Srinagar: An alleged narcotics smuggler was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Karnah area of Kupwara district in north Kashmir, police said on Tuesday.
Police found the body of Mukhtar Ahmad Shah, 42, son of late Syed Akbar Shah of Panjtaran Karnah, in Haridal forest area near the Line of Control in Karnah on Monday night after some gunshots were heard, a police spokesman said.
“Preliminary investigations suggest that the deceased has been killed by rival narcotics smuggling gang members or rival terror operatives,” the spokesman said.
Shah’s body was transferred to SDH Tangdhar for necessary medico-legal procedures and later handed over to family for last rites.
A case has been registered and a thorough investigation has been initiated.
The spokesman said Shah was a “high-profile narcotics smuggler and a person of significant interest in the region”.
He had been found involved in two cases of narcotics and weapons smuggling in the recent past and had confessed to orchestrating the transportation of substantial quantities of narcotics and weaponry across the border, police said.
“His association with his brother, Sadiq Shah, a prominent figure as a launching commander and supplier of narcotics and weapons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), underscores the depth of his involvement in these illicit activities. Sadiq Shah is himself charged in narco-terror cases and happens to be a top terrorist commander based in POJK,” the police spokesman said.
Police also said that the Shah family “has been entangled in various legal cases relating to narcotics and weapons smuggling. At least six other members of the Mukhtar Ahmad Shah’s family are currently facing charges in connection to these criminal activities.”
