MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) police have apprehended seven out of nine suspected members of a drug trafficking ring operating out of the lakeside city of Mirpur.

The gang, which includes even people from the Mirpur division and two from Peshawar, was using cargo services to traffic heroin to various parts of the United Kingdom – particularly Birmingham, UK’s second largest city, a police official said on Saturday.

“The group would conceal heroin in creams, shoes, garments and the household articles and dispatch them to their customers in UK through three different cargo companies,” Mirpur City Station House Officer (SHO) Rashid Habib Masoodi told Dawn. The arrests were made over the past week, after police received “well grounded pieces of information” from informers regarding unlawful activity carried out by the suspects, the SHO said.

Mr Masoodi said three gang members had been identified as Raja Attiqueur Rehman of Samahni, Bhimber and Raja Faisal Mahmood and Hassan Raoof from D-4 and B-5 in Mirpur, respectively.

The three men had either separately set up or purchased three cargo companies called Asia Cargo and Courier Service, ANX Cargo Service and Shazel Cargo Service.

Among those detained were Nadeem Hussain from Barnala, Bhimber, Azeem Iqbal of New City, Mirpur, Taj Mohammad of Zaryab Colony, Peshawar and Mohsin Samad of Barooni Ganji Gate, Peshawar.

Raja Arshid and Raja Qaiser Mahmood, from F-2 and D-4 in Mirpur, respectively, have absconded.

However, Mr Masoodi said they would be found soon.

He said that, other than Taj Mohammad, who is 50, all the other suspects are between 25 and 35 years of age.

He said Raja Arshid and Raja Faisal Mahmood are said to have spent a considerable amount of time in the UK, and were deported from their for suspected drug dealing.

The SHO said police had recovered 1,208 grams of heroin from the suspects, worth Rs10 million in the open market.

Illegal weapons, including a 9mm pistol, a 30-bore pistol, three 12-bore rifles and 150 rounds were also recovered.

He added that seven FIRs have been registered against them at the City police station, under relevant sections of the Narcotics Substances Act 1997 and the Arms Ordinance 2015.

In response to a question, Mr Masoodi said the suspects had been involved in unlawful activist for the last year, but only a detailed investigation would allow police to ascertain the exact volume of contraband smuggled to the UK.

The suspects will be produced before the trial court on Monday for remand.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2016