In a major counter-terror breakthrough, the Jammu and Kashmir State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Saturday (Nov 8) arrested Mohammad Arshad alias Asif, a Pakistan-linked narco-terror kingpin, at the Mumbai Airport, ending a two-year-long manhunt. Arshad had been absconding since 2023 and was reportedly operating from Saudi Arabia, coordinating with handlers across the border.
According to officials, Arshad, a resident of Degwar-Terwan village in Haveli tehsil of Poonch district, served as a vital conduit between Pakistan-based terror handlers and operatives running narco-terror networks in Jammu and Kashmir. The agency described him as the “kingpin of a major narco-terror module” that was responsible for funding subversive activities in the Pir Panjal region through cross-border drug trafficking.
“The arrest marks a significant success for SIA, Jammu and Kashmir, in its sustained efforts to dismantle networks involved in narco-terrorism and cross-border subversive activities,” said an official spokesperson.
The SIA Jammu had issued a Look-Out Circular (LOC) against Arshad in 2023 following a Non-Bailable Warrant (NBW) issued by a competent court. Acting on intelligence inputs, a special team intercepted him at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport as he arrived from abroad. He has been taken into custody on a three-day transit remand from Mumbai, the spokesperson confirmed.
Arshad’s arrest is linked to an ongoing narco-terror case that has already seen multiple arrests. Of the eight accused in the case, two were absconding. Earlier in March 2025, the SIA had arrested another fugitive, Laquit Ahmed, from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport after he fled to Dubai post-incident.
Investigations revealed that Arshad had facilitated Laquit Ahmed’s travel to Dubai and organised a secret meeting in Poonch’s Surankote area to revive terrorism and drug trafficking operations in the Pir Panjal belt.
The narco-terror module, according to the SIA, operated under the guidance of Pakistan-based handler Mushtaq Ahmad Khan alias Khalid Bhai, affiliated with the Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen outfit. The network allegedly pushed drugs and weapons across the Line of Control (LoC) to fund terror activities and recruit new operatives in Jammu and Kashmir.
The case stems from an FIR registered on January 6 at the Parimpora Police Station after the recovery of nine kilograms of heroin from a vehicle during a routine check. Subsequent investigations uncovered a transnational narco-terror operation with deep links to Pakistan.
The SIA has already filed a chargesheet before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Court in Jammu against seven accused in connection with the same case. The agency stated that Arshad’s arrest will help uncover critical links in the funding and logistical network that sustains cross-border terror financing.
Officials said the arrest underscores the J&K SIA’s intensified crackdown on narco-terrorism, a nexus where drug money is used to finance militancy in the region. The agency has, in recent months, coordinated with national and international security bodies to track fugitives abroad and bring them back to India for prosecution.
With Arshad’s capture, investigators hope to trace financial trails, communication channels, and operational links that connect terror outfits in Pakistan with drug networks operating in India and the Gulf.
