Fishy business: Lid blown off drug racket, one held
Nigerian in Nabha jail alleged mastermind of new mode of smuggling drugs inside fish cavity; woman arrested with 1.5kg heroin was making her third DelhiLudhiana trip as a courier
JALANDHAR: A joint team of the counter-intelligence wing of Jalandhar Police and the Jagraon police busted a gang of drug peddlers that transported the contraband through its supply chain in dead fish. ››
JALANDHAR: A joint team of the counter-intelligence wing of Jalandhar police and the Jagraon police busted a gang of drug peddlers that transported the contraband through its supply chain in dead fish.
Uganda-based woman, Rog get Namotabi, 22, with 1.5-kg heroin concealed inside the dead fish on J ag ra on-Mo ga highway on Monday. Namotabi, a resident of Uttam Nagar, Delhi, had entered India in March 2017 on a medical visa. During questioning, she told the police that she was making her third trip to Ludhiana to sell drugs concealed in dead fish.
“Each fish, packed in a box, carried five drug capsules. She travelled by bus to Ludhiana, where two men received the boxes,” Jalandhar Zone IG Arpit Shukla said, adding that they had a tip-off.
“The drug was packed in special capsules of 50-gram each. The kingpin of the racket is a Nigerian, Michael, lodged in Nabha Jail since March 2017 under the NDPS Act,” the IG added.
AIG Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh, who led the Jalandhar police team that busted the racket, said, “The masterminds of the gang are a poppy husk smuggler, Raja Singh alias Raju, and Michael, both lodged in Nabha jail. Raja arranged buy-
ers, while Michael was to get the synthetic drug. The idea of using fish for transport was Michael’s.” The consignment seizedon Monday was meant for Raja’s friend, Gurjant Jand, of Daulewala village, in Moga.
“We will seek production warrants for Michael and Raja. Raids will be conducted atNamotabi’s house in Delhi. We will also arrest another woman, Manpreet, who was the main supplier, and is the remaining accused,” the IG added.
MORE ARREST SIN RACKET RUNNING FROM ROPAR JAIL
In another case, the Jalandhar rural police arrested three people, including a 25-year-old Nigerian woman, with 1-kg heroin on Monday.
Police claimed that the kingpin of this gang, a Nigerian, John, and another smuggler, Mamu, had been running the racket from the high-security Ropar jail over mobile phones.
The arrested are the woman Faith, Karamjit Singh and Puneet Chhabra. Karamjit and Chhabra were only recently bailed out in another drug peddling case and acted as interpreters between the Nigerian kingpin and the drug suppliers.
SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said, “Faith entered India on a tourist visa in December 2017 and bought heroin from a peddler from Delhi and supplied to Karamjit and Chhabra.”