Three men held with 10kg heroin hidden inside SUV
NEWDELHI: The Delhi Police said Tuesday they had arrested three men for allegedly smuggling 10 kilos of heroin, said to be worth ₹40 crore, from Manipur to the national Capital, which they concealed in a cavity inside a Mahindra Scorpio car.
The seizure comes in the wake of Delhi Police’s continued crackdown on the smuggling of narcotic substances into the national Capital.
So far this year, the Delhi Police has seized nearly 400 kilos of heroin from the national Capital, and an additional 130 kilos of the substance from Mumbai.
Last year, the Delhi Police had seized 197 kilos of the drug. In the year before that, 51 kilos of heroin had been seized.
The latest seizure comes after little more than two months when the Delhi Police had busted a drug cartel mid-july in which heroin was allegedly being smuggled into India from Afghanistan.
That operation had seen two big seizures – one of 150 kilos that was smuggled into Delhi by soaking jute bags with liquefied heroin, and the other of 130 kilos from Mumbai which was being brought in through the sea route.
While the police have been able to frequently intercept heroin being smuggled from Afghanistan, a police officer said nearly half of the heroin consignments seized this year were found to be supplied from Manipur.
“In April, we seized 50 kilos of heroin; and then 25 kilos in early September,” said the police officer about some of the big seizures of the drug being supplied from Manipur.
Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), said the increased frequency of crackdowns on the Manipur model in recent times is because the police department has identified the entire network of heroin supply coming from Manipur.
“We now know where the smugglers procure their drugs from and who their suppliers are. So, now we are better informed and prepared when they bring in heroin to Delhi,” said DCP Yadav, adding that the same network supplies heroin to many other states.
In the latest arrest, the officer identified the arrested men as Shakil Ahmed, Riyaz Khan and Shubhankar Haldar. Ahmed and Khan are from Manipur while Haldar hails from West Bengal.
DCP Yadav said Ahmed had earlier worked at a call centre in Delhi before moving to his hometown to start his own businesses, before eventually moving on to allegedly smuggling drugs. Khan and Haldar worked as a welder and a grocer, respectively, until they allegedly began supplying drugs to Delhi as well as states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
“Ahmed was the kingpin of the smuggling racket and was being paid ₹50,000 by his supplier in Manipur for each trip to Delhi,” said Yadav, adding that the other two were allegedly paid lesser money.
Police said they had got a whiff of this racket around four months ago and had been discreetly keeping a watch on the movement of the gang members.
On Saturday, the police received a tip-off about the gang members coming to Delhi in a Scorpio car. “We laid a trap and intercepted their vehicle in Shalimar village in north Delhi. On checking their car, we found sacks of heroin concealed under a seat, in a secret cavity and between seat fabrics,” said Yadav.