This Article is From Jan 17, 2011

Food, wine and women lured them into drug pedalling

Mumbai: They can escape abject poverty, biting cold, terror and unrest gripping their state; all they have to do is smuggle drugs to Mumbai, they are told. And they cannot resist.

The city's drug lords are luring Kashmiri youth with the time-tested bait of food, wine and women, investigators say.

After the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested two such youths in Thane in the early hours of Thursday for smuggling 35 kg of hashish, investigators are convinced of a clear pattern of drug trafficking that has Kashmiri  youths at its centre.

The duo, Liyaqat Ali Bhat (20) and Manzoor Ahmad Dar (26), were lured by the drug mafia with the promise of a few days of luxury in Mumbai.

In exchange for smuggling drugs, they would be cruised around the "best parts" of Mumbai, with beautiful girls for a week, and given Rs 1 lakh each, they were told.

Impoverished and hopeless, they couldn't resist a few days of luxury in the city of dreams.

But their luck ran out. They were trapped by the NCB and put behind bars, as they were trying to smuggle the hashish stashed in cavities in the rear seat of a car.

They managed to give law-enforcing authorities a slip as they successfully crossed all check posts on their way until they were nabbed in Thane.

While Bhat is a native of Srinagar, Dar is a resident of Bandipora district.

Their brief was to deliver drugs to Rasik Jagjivan Devraj, his nephew Prakash Dhiraj Lal Soni, and Madhi Alagan Nadar, all based in the western suburbs.

Devraj, leader of the group, was planning to peddle the drugs in the city.

"Devraj promised to take the two Kashmiri youths to nightclubs in Mumbai and feed them good food," said Yashodhan Wanage, zonal director, NCB.

Their interrogation painted a poor picture of the circumstances back home, which forced them to take the short cut to the good life. As is the case with many others like them.
Similar stories of crime abound in the police files.

Over the last six months, the NCB has arrested nearly 20 Kashmiris in drug cases. Senior officials say they have spotted a clear pattern: lack of employment opportunities and rough winters are forcing Kashmiri youths into drug trafficking.

Intelligence officers say that dense forests and hilly terrains of the valley make it a perfect location to illegally grow cannabis. Once the yield is ready, it is converted to hashish by a simple rubbing technique.

Kashmiri hashish is considered to be of the best quality, unlike that manufactured in other parts of the world.

"The situation in Kashmir is grim. With unrest being a regular feature, the severe winter is making lives difficult for locals," said a senior NCB official.

"Most youths are resorting to drug smuggling to overcome acute poverty and earn a livelihood," he added.

In the last year, police and agencies have nabbed around 25 Kashmiri youth in cases of drug supply and peddling. Cops seized about 100 kg of hashish, among several other drugs, from them.

The last arrest was made in October. Shaukat Ali (19) and Asif (20), both J&K residents, were nabbed and 20 kg of hashish was recovered from them.

Interrogation revealed that they were school dropouts and did odd jobs for a living. Due to the disrupting presence of terror outfits in the valley, they found it difficult to get a job and resorted to smuggling.
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