Srinagar :Police have arrested 425 drug peddlers, including 69 hardcore ones, and filed 242 cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Phototrophic Substances Act during this year in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district, officials said on Wednesday.

Police said as of October 31, the police have filed 242 cases under the NDPS Act, resulting in the arrest of 425 drug peddlers, which include 69 hard-core drug peddlers who have been booked under PIT NDPS and the Public Safety Act (PSA).

Properties of drug peddlers’ worth in crores have also been attached, they said.

The police have also made substantial seizures of contraband worth crores in the black market and properties of drug peddlers worth Rs 2.3 crores, comprising three houses, three vehicles, and cash amounting to Rs 1.2 Crore has also been attached by the police.

The Baramulla Police, under its relentless campaign against drug peddling, has achieved remarkable success, as the number of registered cases has significantly dropped in recent months.

During the first half of the year, from January to June, there was an increase in cases, with numbers surging from 10 to 40 cases in April alone.

However, this trend has reversed from July onwards, with 18 cases registered in the month, followed by 15 in August, 18 cases in September, and another 11 cases in October.

Police have also seized 2.670 kg of brown sugar worth Rs 3.47 crore, heroin worth Rs 6.33 crore, charas worth Rs 59.04 crore, pomegranate straw, and cannabis powder worth Rs 1.29 crore during the period.

Thirty-one vehicles and cash worth Rs 1.13 crore were also seized from the drug peddlers during the period, police added.

“Citizens of the district have shown utmost faith and satisfaction in the action of the police against drugs, and they have expressed their total support to the police”, they said.

Police said it will remain steadfast in its commitment to confront drug smugglers and to seize both movable and immovable property used for illicit trafficking within the district.

Police have also urged the general population of the district to come forward with information about drug peddlers in their areas (whose identities will be kept confidential) to eradicate the menace of drugs from society.