International cartel busted, drugs worth ₹30cr seized at IGIA

NEWDELHI: An international drugs syndicate operating from the UK and having its network in DelhiNCR has been busted by the special cell of Delhi Police.

The syndicate collected drugs from various parts of India to smuggle them into the UK, the USA, the UAE and other west Asian countries in parcels with miscellaneous goods through the air route. A private courier company was being used for exporting the drugs to these countries, said police. Special cell sleuths are probing the role of some customs employees as well.

Four members of the cartel, including a customs house agent in customs cargo of Delhi airport, have been arrested. More than 6.5 lakh tablets of synthetic drugs such as Diazepam, Lorazepam, Nitrazepam, Alprazolam, which are also known as ‘party drugs’, 2kg of Mephedrone and 1kg of Methaqualone in powder form, collectively worth more than Rs 30 crore, were seized at the cargo area of Delhi airport from the arrested persons.

Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), said one of the arrested men, identified as Praveen Saini from Haryana’s Faridabad, is a key member of the syndicate. He allegedly looks after the cartel’s network in India. The other arrested persons were identified as Ashish Sharma, Asim Ali and Rajender.

“Sharma’s job was to prepare the customs clearance documents for the parcels containing drugs. Sharma used to manage clearance of such consignments with help of some persons deputed on X-ray machines of cargo used for checking of packets, parcels, or boxes brought for clearance,” Yadav said.

DCP Yadav said the arrests came following information that Baljeet Singh, aka Balli, and Gajender Singh Rathore, who are settled in London (UK), are running an international drug cartel with their contacts in Delhi and other Indian cities. Saini handled their business in India.

On May 18, the special cell team received inputs that Saini will book a consignment of drugs to London from customs cargo of the IGI airport and the contraband would arrive in the parking area of customs house in the evening. “Our team laid a trap and around 9.30pm, a tempo was found with some cartons and boxes. Two persons were seen pasting stickers on each carton. They were caught and identified as Ali and Sharma,” said Yadav.

They were found booked for London and airway bill of an international airlines was pasted on each carton. All the cartons and boxes were filled with synthetic drugs, Yadav said. “Another customs house agent, Akshit Gulia, is absconding. He was the one who helped the drug dealers in getting customs clearance of the parcels of drugs using his contacts,” the DCP added.