When the sleuths of the State Investigation Agency (SIA) arrested a 35-year-old man from Jammu for alleged involvement in a cross-border narco-terror financing network, it revealed a new and challenging dimension of the problem.A specialised anti-terrorism and law enforcement agency set up by the J&K government, SIA has been looking for this man for four years to little success. The man, now 35, would keep changing his hideout, and rarely carried a mobile phone. He had managed to give police the slip, leaving behind a stash of heroin, only three months ago.But what made the operation even more significant was his identity – he is a Kashmiri Pandit, a community who had to leave their homes in the Valley and take refuge in Jammu over 35 years ago.Identified as Manoj Kumar Bhat aka Pintu, he is said to be the son of a retired government employee who lived in Rehari Colony in Jammu’s Bakshi Nagar.The arrest has left the community shocked, though no one in the city seemed to have any knowledge or association with Pintu.The community members say they find it difficult to accept that one of their own could have anything to do with Pakistan-sponsored terror – the very reason that triggered their mass exodus from their native places in the Valley in 1990, and left them with lasting pain.Story continues below this ad“Badnaam kar ke rakh dia (he has given us a bad name),” said a resident of Subhash Nagar, a neighbouring locality which is home to many Valley migrants.“Subah se pata lagaane ki koshish kar rahe hain ki kaun hai (We have been trying to find out who he is but to little success),” said another.SIA claims that Pintu is the first Kashmiri Pandit they have arrested for alleged involvement in cross border narco-terror financing network in Jammu and Kashmir. The SIA has arrested 35-year-old Manoj Kumar Bhat in Jammu over alleged links to a cross-LoC narcotics trafficking and terror-financing network. (Express Photo by Shuaib Masoodi)Migration from ValleyPintu’s family had migrated to Jammu from the Rainawari area of Srinagar, officials said, adding that his father was an employee in the Roads and Building (R&B) Department who later retired as Deputy Director.Story continues below this adThe family was not registered as migrants with the Relief Commissioner in Jammu, SIA said. Hence, his kin had not been getting any relief or assistance from the government.Little is known about Pintu’s past or present life – his siblings, his education, his marital status, and what prompted him to get involved in terror activities.A senior SIA officer said that Pintu managed to dodge law enforcing agencies for nearly four years as he kept his phone switched off most of the time. Whenever he switched it on, he was using a different number, the officer said.Pintu was wanted in connection with an FIR registered with SIA Kashmir on June 3, 2022, relating to the smuggling of narcotics from across the Line of Control and alleged channelisation of its sale proceeds towards financing terrorist activities, according to an SIA statement.Story continues below this adThe case was registered following the recovery of a kilogram of heroin from two people — Zeeshan Ahmad Sofi and Waseem Ahmad Khan — at Nowpora in Sopore district of Kashmir. Subsequent investigation resulted in recovery of 7kg of poppy straw and 4kg of poppy seeds, possibly to make opium.SIA personnel said Pintu’s name surfaced during questioning of both Zeeshan and Waseem, who said he had been a frequent visitor to Kashmir while he was absconding.The SIA raid at Pintu’s residential premises in Jammu led to seizure of 15 grams of heroin. A few electronic gadgets and a motorcycle were also seized, which are presently under forensic/technical examination, it said.Also Read | Will hunt down Kashmir drug smugglers even in ‘paataal’: L-G SinhaWell-organised networkThese individuals had arranged and facilitated the trafficking of narcotics from PoK, SIA said. The contraband was then collected, distributed and sold through a network operating within J&K, the SIA said, adding that the investigation assumes particular significance in view of the established pattern of narco-terror financing, wherein proceeds generated through narcotics trafficking are allegedly diverted towards sustaining terrorist activities.Story continues below this adIn the four-year period he eluded the police, Pintu visited Kashmir multiple times, an SIA official said.During questioning, nearly half-a-dozen persons arrested in the case from different parts of Valley confirmed that Pintu had been visiting Kashmir to collect narcotics smuggled from across the LoC, the official added. However, to evade counter-terror and law-enforcement agencies, he made sure not to keep any mobile phone with him during his stay, the official added.The agency, on the basis of technical surveillance, the pattern of his movement and usage of mobile phones, however little, found that he was active in Jammu’s Rehari, Sidhra, Nagrota, Nai Basti and Qasim Nagar.On the basis of human intelligence and technical surveillance, the SIA had raided a place in Jammu nearly three months ago, but Pintu managed to give the sleuths the slip, leaving behind a sizeable quantity of heroin, which was seized.Story continues below this adHaving collected fresh information about Pintu’s movement in a particular area in Jammu, an SIA team, which was already in the city looking for him, swooped down on him. His mistake: Switching on one of his mobile phones.SIA has not revealed the exact location where Pintu was nabbed.Pintu’s arrest, according to officials, is significant as it takes the lid off a wider narco-terror conspiracy backed by Hizbul Mujahideen terror outfit based in Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir.A sinister nexusThe investigations have brought to light a sinister nexus in which narcotics are trafficked into J&K, distributed through an established network, and the proceeds generated from their sale pumped into activities intended to sustain and further the terrorist ecosystem, SIA added.Story continues below this adApart from Pintu, Sofi, and Waseem, police have arrested Ahmad Khan, Bashir Ahmad Koli, Mohammad Ashraf Lone, Mohammad Saleem Khan, and Zafraan Khan in the matter. Barring Pintu, Sofi and Waseem, all were picked from Baramulla. The agency has filed multiple charge-sheets before the competent court against them.Pointing out that the agency is now looking for Pintu’s two absconding associates, an SIA official said the case demonstrates the manner in which the terror ecosystem seeks to exploit the narcotics trade as an alternative and covert source of funding. By targeting the entire chain — from cross-LoC narcotics trafficking to local distribution to the financial proceeds generated therefrom — we are pursuing the broader objective of financially strangulating and dismantling the support structures that sustain terrorism, an SIA, Kashmir, official told The Indian Express.Tackling the menaceWith Pakistan pumping drugs from across the border to fund terrorism in J&K, the government sources said, substance abuse has become a massive challenge in the Union Territory.According to official reports, more than 13.5 lakh people – nearly 10% of the UT’s total population — including 1.68 lakh minors in the age group of 10 to 17, were found indulging in substance abuse. Of them, nearly 50,000 youth were addicted to heroin, the reports highlighted.Story continues below this adLaw-enforcement agencies first noticed Pakistan using this distinct pattern of funding terrorism in J&K when they intercepted consignments of weapons, IEDs and cash along with narcotics in border areas of Kashmir during 2020-21. A number of people receiving consignments of drugs, especially heroin, smuggled from Pakistan and PoK revealed during questioning that the proceeds generated from their sale in J&K, Punjab and other parts of the country was being used to fund terrorist activities in the UT.To deal with the crisis, the civil administration and police jointly launched a 100-day Nasha Mukt (drug free) Jammu and Kashmir campaign on April 11 this year. The entire civil and police administration got involved in the campaign, with Lt Governor Manoj Sinha himself leading daily marches in one or the other district to raise awareness.So far, police have registered more than 2,292 FIRs, arrested nearly 2,600 people, detained 292 people under provisions of the PIT-NDPS Act and seized nearly 1,431 kgs of contraband, including approximately 24 kgs of heroin.The administration has also attached properties worth nearly Rs 200 crore, allegedly built by drug peddlers out of the sale proceeds of narcotics, besides demolishing structures, worth over Rs 28 crore, built on state land.This is apart from suspension and cancellation of hundreds of driving licences of alleged drug peddlers and registration of their vehicles used in drug trafficking. Licences of a number of of chemist shops were also cancelled.According to Sinha, the campaign against narcotics has not ended and would only get more vigorous with each day.