Junk dealer hits gold (4,400 kg mandrax), arrested

IN THE biggest drugs haul in Delhi, the police have seized over 4,400 kg of Mandrax, a Schedule 1 banned drug. Said to be worth Rs 200 crore in the international market, the consignment was recovered from the godown of one Vinod Sharma, a scrap dealer, on Tajpur road in Badarpur near the Delhi-Haryana border during a raid on Sunday. Sharma had been arrested from Kalkaji with 4 Kg of Mandrax (methaqualone) earlier in the day.

IN THE biggest drugs haul in Delhi, the police have seized over 4,400 kg of Mandrax, a Schedule 1 banned drug. Said to be worth Rs 200 crore in the international market, the consignment was recovered from the godown of one Vinod Sharma, a scrap dealer, on Tajpur road in Badarpur near the Delhi-Haryana border during a raid on Sunday. Sharma had been arrested from Kalkaji with 4 Kg of Mandrax (methaqualone) earlier in the day.

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The police were not sure about the destination of the container loaded with the drugs. Unconfirmed reports said the container was heading to South Africa. It was not clear where the drug had been manufactured and packed.

"Sharma was waiting to get the right price for this consignment," said Anil Shukla, DCP (south). "He had taken samples of the drug to a few drug dealers in Delhi."

The police said Sharma, his brother and others of his family -- with the help of truck drivers -- used to steal goods from containers destined for the Inland Container Depot at Tuglaqabad. Sharma told the police that he had removed the 4,400 kg of Mandrax from a 40 ft container about a fortnight ago in a similar manner.

A history-sheeter, Sharma has at least 12 cases of theft of goods container registered against him. "We're investigating the point of origin and point of destination of the chemical," said Shukla. "We want to establish the forward and backward linkages of the network."