MUZAFFARABAD, May 11: Two young sisters were sent on judicial remand by a magistrate on Friday, a day after they were apprehended by the police on a checkpoint near here for possessing 50gram heroin.

‘H’ and ‘S who were in early twenties and said to be the drug addicts, told the police they had been bringing heroin from Mansehra for the past one and a half years for them and for some other guys.

Though the police were avoiding sharing any information but sources told Dawn that the drug rackets had been operating in the city since long, targeting young male and female students from elite families.

These racketeers would particularly blackmail female addicts into doing nasty things on their demands, including transportation of the drugs from different areas, sources said. When contacted, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Sardar Gulfraz Khan said that the girls had named three persons who would task them with bringing the heroin. “The people mentioned by them are at large but shortly we will hunt them down,” the SSP said.

Mr Khan claimed that the police were already alive to this menace and had arrested over a dozen people in this connection recently.

“These girls were also under surveillance and yesterday our men at Brarkot police post caught them red-handed from a public transport vehicle while they were in possession of heroin,” he said.

He said that the police would probe the girls to get to the people who were behind the unlawful trade as well as exploitation of the young girls.

By Tariq Naqash