Kotli Police bust international drug gang, capture 16 KG heroin

MIRPUR, Azad Kashmir: Kotli Police in a major operation against drug smugglers claimed to have busted a gang of drugs smugglers, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The police have arrested 16 members of the gang with 14 kilograms of heroin, worth hundreds of million rupees in the international market. The police officials also recovered four million rupees in cash, SSP Kotli Irfan Saleem said in a media briefing.

The arrested accused are members of an international drug gang and they were engaged in smuggling of drugs to the United Kingdom for past 30 years, the officer claimed.

The drugs were smuggled to the country in concealed pockets of jackets and through other means, the police officer said.

Police also recovered 16 jackets from their possession during the raid, the SSP said.

The 13 members of the drug gang were still hiding in Dubai and the UK, the Senior Superintendent Police said.

The accused had opened a bank account in the name of a shopkeeper through which, 102.2 mln rupees were transferred to drug dealers, the SSP said.

The Kotli Police had also busted another drug gang in November last year, arresting four members of the gang and captured 8.6 KG of heroin. The gang was engaged in smuggling heroin to the United Kingdom through innocent relatives of expatriates.