Mughal road becoming smugglers’ safe haven

The security agencies in Jammu and Kashmir are worried over the new trend in which Mughal road has become a favorite route of the drug peddlers to smuggle drugs and narcotics from Kashmir valley to other areas.

84 kilometers long route an altitude of 11,500 ft is an alternate road route to Kashmir valley from rest of India. Though it has not yet been thrown open officially but is being used by the taxi operators and some tourists for to and fro movement, making it favorite route for smugglers.  Earlier two Car rallies were organized on the same Mughal road that provides a direct link from Muslim dominated areas of Rajouri and Poonch district in Jammu region to the Shopian district in Kashmir valley.

 Lack of security on the route is another reason why the drug peddlers prefer this route over the regular National Highway-1 route to bring drugs from the valley to other states in the country.

 Addl. SP Rajouri says that Mughal road is being used by the drug peddlers who regularly brought brown sugar and other narcotics from the valley to Jammu and elsewhere in the country, however before construction of Mughal road the drugs were brought from other places like Bughal, Kandi. “Smuggling of narcotics has increased through the Mughal road ” he confessed.

Not only brown sugar but a large number of intoxicant capsules have been recovered during the recent past from the same route. On July 10 this year Rajouri police seized brown sugar worth Rs 1 crore from a gang of drug peddlers while they were on their way to Kashmir valley.

On August 27 this year Rajouri Police recovered one kg of charas and at least 900 intoxicant capsules from two separate locations in border district of Rajouri that were being brought from the valley through Mughal road.

The recent case of drug smuggling from Mughal road came to the light on 22 September when two narcotics smugglers along with half Kg brown sugar were arrested by the Rajouri police. “On specific information, police intercepted a passenger taxi at Thanamandi and all passengers, who travelled from Srinagar via Mughal Road, were frisked. During searches, 500 gram of brown sugar worth Rs 50 lakh in international market was recovered from a smuggler identified as Ishfaq Ahmed Sofi, resident of Shopian, Kashmir” police sources disclosed. 

While talking to SSP Poonch Mohammed Shakur Wani, he admitted that narcotics smuggling has increased in the area but refused ton attribute the trend to opening of  Mughal Road. “It is inter border narcotics smuggling with support of locals” Wani said.

The road was historically used by Mughal emperors to travel and conquer Kashmir during the sixteenth century. It was the route used by Akbar the Great to conquer Kashmir in 1586, and his son Emperor Jahangir died while returning from Kashmir on this road near Rajouri.

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 KASHMIR IMAGES jAMMU