Kashmir Impulse Desk

Jammu, June 13

Police in Kathua district said on Saturday they had arrested a suspected drug trafficker from Punjab and seized heroin and cash as part of an investigation into a wider narcotics network.

Police said approximately 50 gm of heroin and Rs 1 lakh in cash were recovered following the arrest of Gulzar Ahmed, who had allegedly been evading arrest for seven months.

The arrest was linked to a case registered in October 2025, when police intercepted two men near Lakhanpur and recovered about 300 grams of heroin from their possession.

Authorities said Ahmed’s name emerged during the subsequent investigation.

Following his arrest in Punjab, police conducted a raid in the Marheen area of Kathua district and recovered the additional narcotics and cash, officials said.

Police said the total recovery in the case now stood at around 352 gm of heroin and Rs 1 lakh in cash, while three suspects had been arrested.

“Further investigation is underway to establish forward and backward linkages of the network,” a police spokesperson said.

In a separate case, police detained an alleged repeat narcotics offender under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act.

The accused, identified as Bagh Shah of Kathua district, had been named in multiple cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, police said.

According to police, he was lodged at District Jail Kishtwar after legal formalities were completed.