Escaped drug peddler re-arrested by NCB from Jalandhar

The Jammu unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has re-arrested a notorious drug peddler Aqib Bashir who had escaped from its custody three days ago, NCB said on Thursday.

The accused was arrested in Punjab’s Jalandhar in a coordinated operation by the agency, J&K Police and Punjab Police, an NCB officer said.

Aqib Bashir, a resident of Kakapora in Pulwama district, escaped from NCB’s custody in Narwal on the intervening night of September 6-7.

The NCB had earlier arrested him with 522 grams of heroin from a passenger bus in Samba district on September 3.

After fleeing from Jammu, the accused reached Jalandhar via the Pathankot route. He initially attempted to evade detection by taking shelter under the cover of darkness and hiding in a forest area near Narwal Fruit Mandi, Jammu.

To conceal his identity, he clean-shaved, changed his clothes and altered his appearance. He subsequently used his contacts in Jalandhar to seek shelter and evade the search teams, NCB said

Continuous intelligence inputs and coordinated field efforts enabled the agencies to track and narrow down his location.

The NCB (Jammu, Amritsar, Chandigarh)–Punjab Police team apprehended him when he was reportedly preparing to move towards Delhi or another State.

The successful operation reflects the effectiveness of inter-agency coordination, real-time information sharing, sustained efforts and public cooperation, NCB said.