Police seize ₹40cr party drugs in raids, SP leader’s nephew held

NEWDELHI: The nephew of Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi and three more men were arrested in Mumbai and the national capital for allegedly running an international drug racket, police said on Wednesday.

The Delhi Police special cell, which ran the operation from Sunday to Tuesday, seized 5kg of the party drug MDMA, also known as ice, worth ₹40 crore in the Capital. “The seized drug was to be smuggled to the US and UK in parcels of different clients of a courier company in Delhi,” said Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, deputy commissioner of police. The 43-year-old Abu Aslam Azmi was caught in a luxury hotel in Mumbai’s Santa Cruz on Tuesday. He allegedly ran the cartel from the hotel room. “Aslam is a key accomplice of kingpin Kailash Rajput and looks after the network in India.

He returned and worked in a company in Goa till 2013,” Yadav said. Aslam, a Class 12 dropout, later opened a restaurant in Goa and allegedly came in contact with drug peddlers, who were Rajput’s accomplices. He was introduced to Rajput by their common contact, Hanif Bhai, police said. When Rajput was arrested by Mumbai police three years ago, Aslam helped him during the trial and became his close partner, police said.

Rajput jumped bail and fled India, and is running the syndicate from Dubai now. He is said to be a key player in narco-terrorism against India and close to fugitive Mumbai ganglord Dawood Ibrahim.