While the cost of the heroin which is of very high quality is estimated to be over Rs 10 crore, the cost of brown sugar is also estimated to run in several crores in the international market, a police official said.
The five accused, identified as Shafiq Ahmed, Abdul Manan (residents of Kupwara district), Jithin PC, Nizam-ud-din (both residents of Kerala) and Surjeet Singh (resident of Amritsar) were arrested last night from the Bag-e-Bahu area of Jammu and 10 kg of heroin and brown sugar each were recovered from them, he said.
Acting on specific information that a large consignment of narcotics is being smuggled out of the state, police laid a surprise checkpoint and apprehended a vehicle in the area. On searching the vehicle the narcotics were recovered, he said.
The officer said preliminary investigations suggest that the narcotics were smuggled from across the Line of Control in the Tangdhar sector and was meant to be sold in other parts of the country.
A case under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been registered against the accused and investigations is on, he said.