Delhi drug bust: Key accused nabbed from Amritsar village, 2kg cocaine recovered
Police say the recovered drug was only a small part of the 100kg cocaine planned to be supplied to Punjab
The special cell of Delhi Police, probing the 500kg cocaine seizure case, has recovered 2kg of the contraband from a village in Amritsar and apprehended a man, officials on Sunday said.
Police said the recovered amount was only a small part of the 100kg planned to be supplied to the state.
The accused was planning to flee the country, they said. A Toyota Fortuner SUV was also recovered from his possession during the raid at a village in Amritsar.
On October 2, Delhi Police made one of the biggest drug busts ever seen in the city, seizing over 562 kilograms of cocaine and 40 kilograms of hydroponic marijuana.
Police said the cocaine was recovered from Amritsar village on Saturday night on the instance of Jitender Pal Singh Gill, 45, an associate of Virender Basoiya, the alleged kingpin of a syndicate who was arrested last Thursday.
A senior police officer told HT, “After the raid in south Delhi...we found that their Dubai-based handler (Basoiya) had sent Gill to India two weeks back to ensure that the 562kg of cocaine reaches clients…”
Gill, a UK national, was also asked to supply 100kg of cocaine to Punjab.
An investigator said, “The plan was to smuggle 100kg to Punjab. So, Gill took a small amount to send it to his distributors/local drug handlers…” The officer added that names of a few clients popped up during the probe, and arrests in the “sensitive” matter will only be made on the basis of documented proof.
The Delhi Police have issued a look-out circular (LOC) against Basoiya, officials said , adding that the accused is currently suspected to be in Dubai.
Separately, the police have arrested another person in connection with the case — A Safi, who was apprehended from his hometown near Chennai, Tamil Nadu — taking the number of arrests to six.
Last Tuesday, Delhi Police seized 562kg of cocaine from a godown in Mahipalpur. Officers on Sunday said Basoiya — who was earlier arrested in 2011 in a drugs case and sent to Tihar jail — is also one of the alleged masterminds behind the haul of 1,700kg mephedrone from Pune to Delhi earlier this year.
Two senior officers said they are taking further legal action in the Delhi case and planning to arrest Basoiya soon. “He is wanted in two big cases. The Pune-Delhi case is the biggest drug seizure in the country while the Mahipalpur case is one of the biggest cocaine seizures. We have issued an LOC against him. We don’t know where he is in Dubai, he could have come back to India and could be hiding. Teams are trying to ascertain his location,” said a third officer.
Police said his family, who live in London, will also be summoned.
On the fresh arrest made on Sunday, police said that Safi, 35, was part of the syndicate and was responsible for “smuggling” the drugs pan-India.
Deputy commissioner of police (special cell) Amit Kaushik said the role of Safi, who was held near Chennai, came up during the interrogation of the other five arrested accused.
“He was in-charge of the transportation and bypassing law enforcement agencies on highways and other roads,” said another officer.