Six arrested with narcotic substances worth Rs 12 cr
NEW DELHI: In a major operation against drug traffickers, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Delhi Zonal Unit, has arrested six drug carriers in an operation spanning four days. The NCB has also confiscated narcotics substances worth Rs 12 crore in the international market.
The list of arrested persons include a Bolivian woman, two Indian women and a Nigerian man, all part of a Cocaine smuggling syndicate operating from Bolivia, a South African man carrying 440 grams of Amphetamine and a Bolivian man who swallowed 50 Cocaine pills.
In two cases, the Adis Ababa drug route, was used to smuggle the drugs into Delhi, while in the case involving the South African man, the Amphetamine was on its way to Australia through the Gol Dak Khana post office.
According to the Deputy Director General (DDG) (North Zone), Taj Hassan, the first operation took place on May 12, when the NCB officials intercepted the Bolivian Soleto Justiano Fernando, who had reached Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport via the Ethiopian Airlines.
“We had credible information that Fernando was carrying a consignment of Cocaine with him. When the NCB officials searched his bag we did not find any trace of the drugs. So we made him undergo an X-ray scan at Safdarjung hospital,” said Hassan.
After the X-ray examination, it was found that the accused had swallowed 50 pills of Cocaine, weighing 500 grams. He was on his way to Goa to deliver the consignment.
In the second case, on May 15, the NCB officials busted a gang of women drug mules. Acting on inputs, the NCB raiding team arrested a Bolivian woman, Fernando Rengel Grageda (20), who had reached Delhi on the very same day and booked a hotel in Paharganj.
“The team mounted surveillance and found that she was going to hand over the drugs to an Indian woman. Both of them were arrested after the exchange took place. We recovered 3.2 kilograms of Cocaine,” Hassan said.
The Indian woman was identified as Lhingpinchong alias Shilpa(28), a resident of Senapati District, Manipur. Shilpa told the NCB officials that she was supposed to hand over the Cocaine to Sanali Khan (41), who was also apprehended along with a Nigerian man, Odonga Chickwuebuka Stephen (38), the owner of the consignment.
The investigators had interrogated Fernando, who claimed that she was paid 4,000 US Dollars by a Nigerian contact based in Bolivia, Nagreta. “Our officers have communicated this development to fellow drug enforcement agencies in Bolivia,” said a NCB source.
The last drug operation was undertaken on the very same day, when the NCB officials had arrested a South African man, Franklyn R Zodwa with 440 grams of Amphetamine from Gol Dak Khana post office. He was sending the drug consignment to Australia via post.
It was also found that he was involved in a previous drug case in Australia and the concerned authorities have been informed.