J&K News: In a massive crackdown on the Narco-Terror Network, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has terminated four government employees from service. These employees were believed to be a part of the JeM module and Narco-Terror Network.  The step has been taken in line with the 'Zero Tolerance Policy' against Narco-Terror. Article 311 of the Constitution of India has been invoked.


According to the investigation, the four were acting on behalf of terror outfits, and law enforcement and intelligence agencies had collected incriminating material evidence against them, sources told ABP News. The four terminated government employees were identified as Mushtaq Ahmad Pir, Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone, Baazil Ahmad Mir, and Mohd Zaid Shah. 


Here Are Details On 4 Terminated Employees


Mushtaq Ahmad Pir


As per ABP News sources, Mushtaq Ahmad Pir was recruited in the Armed Police Wing of Jammu and Kashmir Police in 1995 as a constable. After joining the police department, he was posted to various places in Jammu and Kashmir.


“After getting acquainted with networks of drug traffickers, he took undue advantage of his police position and leveraged it for hassle-free transportation and sale of drugs. He was least likely to be suspected for being a man in uniform and therefore went unnoticed at Police Naka points, where he would use his Police Identity Card to avoid detection of any of his wrongdoings, especially avoid searches of his vehicle, including of those travelling with him in such vehicles. As such, his criminal activities remained undetected over the period,” sources told ABP News.


According to the probe, instead of performing his duties in helping the department fight the drug menace, he chose to be a kingpin of peddling drugs and thus betrayed his oath and uniform. Mushtaq Ahmad Pir brazenly used his influence as a police official to strengthen the drug syndicate in and around the Kupwara-Handwara area.


Police had been monitoring his activities to nab him along with the recovery of contraband substances. Following continuous surveillance on his activities, he was eventually caught by an alert team of Handwara Police. During interrogation, he revealed that he had been a close associate of Iftikhar Andrabi, who was the kingpin of a narco-terror syndicate operating across the border.


Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone


Imtiyaz Ahmad Lone was appointed as constable in Jammu and Kashmir Police in 2002. ABP News sources said that after his recruitment, instead of working for maintenance of law, order, and peace in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir as a policeman, he strayed and slipped into illicit activities aimed at aiding and abetting terrorism in the region. He became a major associate (OGW-Over Ground Worker) of banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).


According to sources in December 2023, Police Station Tral received information that some terrorist associates (including women) active in Police District Awantipora, especially in the jurisdiction of Tral, are in constant touch with terrorist handlers of proscribed terrorist organisations based in Pakistan through different communication mediums and supplying, transporting, and facilitating delivery of arms and ammunition for promoting and executing terrorist acts.


It was further learned that some of the terrorist associates have received illegal arms and ammunition and have been tasked with committing terrorist acts by targeting civilians and security forces to create an atmosphere of terror in Kashmir. 


Baazil Ahmad Mir


Bazil Ahmad Mir was appointed as a junior assistant in the School Education Department in 2018 and posted at Government Boys High Secondary School, Ring Payeen, Machil, District Kupwara. Investigations into his activities have revealed that Bazil Ahmad Mir, after being appointed as a government employee, became a notorious drug peddler in Lolab, Kupwara, and adjoining areas of District Kupwara.


Taking advantage of his position as a government employee, he brazenly used his influence to create and spread the tentacles of a drug syndicate in and around Lolab, turning into a full-fledged trafficker of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and would mint money, at the cost of the life and career of the local youth.


According to investigators, Bazil Ahmad Mir has been in close touch with the Pakistani terrorist handlers and strengthened their foothold by playing a conduit in the delivery, supply, and sale of narcotic drugs, including weapons and explosives, with the intention to break and destabilise J&K internally by exploiting and luring its youth (the future of the country) into narcotics and terrorism at the behest of these handlers.


Bazil Ahmad Mir was finally caught last year when he was travelling along with his close associate. In view of the activities of Bazil Ahmad Mir, it is evident that he is a highly motivated and committed drug trafficker, and his activities are causing irreparable damage to society, especially to youth who are addicted to drugs. 


“It is common knowledge that heroin in J&K is mostly smuggled from across the LoC to finance terrorism via districts sharing the LoC with PoJK or bordering with Pakistan, including Kupwara. Scores of such drug trafficking modules unearthed by police have led to the discovery that such modules have turned out to be organised drug cartels smuggling contraband from Pakistan that are connected directly or indirectly with terrorism,” sources were quoted as saying. 


Mohd Zaid Shah


Mohd Zaid Shah was appointed as a Village Level Worker (VLW) in the Rural Development Department in 1998. He is a hardcore drug peddler. Besides working as a Village Level Worker (VLW) in the Rural Development Department, he also functioned as a President of All J&K VLWs Association Baramulla. 


“Mohd Zaid Shah, under the guise of being a government employee, a President of the VLW association, and his political affiliation with a national political party, had carved out an image in the general public, whereby he could be least suspected by the police or the security forces for being an arch element of a narco-terror syndicate operating in J&K. Taking advantage of the cover and camouflage of his ‘public image’, he leveraged his social standing to spread the drug syndicate in and around Uri in a covert and systematic manner, without being caught in the legal dragnet for a considerable period," sources said. 


He was put under surveillance, which finally led to his arrest in 2022 along with narcotics worth Rs. 30 crore. Investigation further revealed that Mohd Zaid Shah had received such a huge consignment of heroin (10 KG) from drug smugglers across LoC in Pakistan, Occupied J&K, and was aiming to sell the contraband among peddlers in J&K and other parts of India.