Drug peddler booked under PSA in J-K’s Kathua

Jammu: An alleged interstate drug peddler was arrested and booked under the union territory’s stringent Public Safety Act (PSA) in Kathua district here on Monday, police said.

Rupesh Kumar alias Bobby is the first accused in a case of drug peddling to be arrested under PSA in Kathua this year and the fifth since last year, a police spokesman said.

He said Kumar, a native of Punjab’s Gurdaspur and presently living in Kathua’s Chak Drab Khan village, was evading arrest for over six months and was arrested by a special police team.

In order to keep a check on his activities, the spokesman said, a dossier was prepared against him and sent to the Jammu divisional commissioner for his detention under PSA some time ago.

Accordingly, the officer issued a detention warrant against him and it was executed on Monday, the spokesman said.

Kumar has been lodged in Central Jail in Kot Bhalwal, Jammu.

Last year, police in Kathua had booked four drug peddlers under PSA as part of their drive against drug menace.

PSA is an administrative law that allows detention without charge or trial for up to two years in some cases.