Heroin worth ₹125 crore seized in one of biggest drug hauls, 5 of a gang arrested
NEW DELHI : In their biggest drug bust in nearly five years, Delhi police have seized heroin worth ₹125 crore from four alleged members of an international syndicate who were arrested over the past fortnight.
Those arrested include two Afghans and a Nigerian besides an Indian, said the police. Deputy commissioner of police (special cell) PK Kushwah said members of the syndicate smuggled drugs to Europe and the Gulf countries using India and Pakistan as transit points.
“Between March 26 and April 6, we arrested the members of this network and the total seizure from them is 29 kg of fine quality heroin which is estimated to be worth around ₹125 crore in the international market. This is the biggest seizure made by Delhi police since 2013, when we had seized drugs worth ₹150 crore from another cartel,” said Kushwah.
The arrested members have been identified as Jehangir Ahmad Bhat, Nnadi. K Iheanyi, Gorbachan Singh and Hazi Malam. Malam and Singh are from Afghanistan while Iheanyi is from Nigeria. Bhat, the lone Indian, is from Srinagar.
On the arrests, Kushwah said they had information about suspects coming from Jammu and Kashmir to Delhi and supplying consignments of heroin to persons of Afghan origin who had migrated to India.
“We have information that these consignments are routed through Nigerians through other Afghans. We mounted surveillance on them and with the Delhi Police arrested three members of an international drug syndicate and recovered over 438 kilograms of Pseudoephedrine worth over ~50 crore
The Delhi police special cell arrested four members of an international drug cartel and recovered heroin and ketamine worth ~40 crore
Police arrested three men, seized Mephedrone, also called ‘Meow-meow’, estimated to be worth ~50 crore
Delhi police special cell arrested eight members of a syndicate from the Capital and seized Meow Meow drug worth ~20 crore
help of a tip off, we managed to arrest Bhat from Paschim Vihar on March 23. We also seized 11 kg of fine quality of heroin from him,” said Kushwah.
Bhat further told the police that he was going to deliver the heroin to one Gorbachan in Delhi and had supplied drugs to him in the past as well.
On Bhat’s instance, police nabbed Singh from Vikaspuri and seized one kg heroin from him. Malam was the next to be arrested, also from Delhi on March 31.
“Malam said he received directions from Pakistan and Afghanistan to receive heroin in India and to deliver the same to Nigerians. He also said that heroin is manufactured in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, in a factory and later shipped to Pakistan to one from where it is pushed into Jammu and Kashmir,” said Kushwah.
The police started looking for the Nigerian members of the cartel and arrested Nnadi last week leading to the seizure of another 16 kg heroin, taking the total seizure made from all four to 29 kg.
“They pack the heroin in capsules which they conceal in their stomach to smuggle them out of the country,” said Kushwah.
Officials said drug cartels are focussing on Delhi as it is the best connected city in South Asia and also a growing market in itself.