Cocaine bust: Kingpin part of 1,700kg drug haul ‘meow meow’ case

Police said that the consignments were sent in an old cargo ship by a Dubai-based handler, Virender Basoiya. Police detained one of Basoiya’s suspected associate, Jitender Pal Singh Gill (45) on Thursday from the airport in Amritsar.

Three days after the Capital’s biggest drug bust, the investigation into the case in South Delhi’s Mahipalpur, has revealed that the syndicate’s kingpin is a Dubai-based businessman and also one of the alleged masterminds behind the 1,700kg mephedrone haul from Pune to Delhi earlier this year.

Addl. CP (Special Cell) Pramod Kumar Kushwah addresses a press conference on Wednesday after the drug bust. (PTI)

Following raids, four people were arrested on Tuesday with 562kg cocaine and 40kg hydroponic weed, which were sourced from Colombia and reached Goa through Panama and Dubai. Police said that the consignments were sent in an old cargo ship by a Dubai-based handler, Virender Basoiya. Police detained one of Basoiya’s suspected associate, Jitender Pal Singh Gill (45) on Thursday from the airport in Amritsar.

Police said Gill, who has been living in London for 27 years, had allegedly come to India on instructions of Basoiya and was here to ensure that the consignment reaches clients safely in India. Police had received a tip-off about Gill planning to smuggle 100kg cocaine to Punjab.

During interrogation, it was revealed that Basoiya is also accused in other drug haul cases. DCP (south) Ankit Chauhan had earlier said that in February, Pune police had recovered 900kg mephedrone from shops in Delhi’s shops in Kotla Mubarakpur and Hauz Khas areas and Basoiya was also a mastermind of the drug bust. The Pune police had come to Delhi in February after seizing 800kg of the drug from a facility in Pune. The case came to be known as ‘meow meow’ case and the total drug seized was worth ₹3,200 crore.

A senior police officer told HT, “We were in touch with the Pune police and found that the mastermind is Basoiya along with other foreign nationals. After the interrogation, it has been revealed that Basoiya is the kingpin of this syndicate as well. When we were investigating the ‘meow meow’ case, he had fled from Delhi and is currently believed to be hiding in Dubai.”

Police also suspect that Tushar Goyal (42) -- one of the arrested accused from this week -- could also be involved in the ‘meow meow’ case. “We have found evidence against Goyal that he was in touch with Basoiya for three years and wanted to be involved in the drug syndicate. He not only helped the accused by giving his godown as a storage space in Delhi but also leased a commercial space in Ghaziabad to help the gang smuggle drugs across states. We are checking if he was also involved in the previous case,” added the first officer.

Basoiya was arrested in 2011. Police said they found records from 2011 that show both Goyal and Baisoya were in Tihar jail at the same time. While Baisoya was lodged in a narcotics case, Goyal was held in an Arms Act case, said the police.

The senior police officer said, “They became friends inside jail and were later released. They kept in touch and when Baisoya wanted to send a huge consignment to India, he contacted Goyal.”