Delhi couple held for ties to international narcotic syndicate

Delhi Police arrest married couple involved in an international drug syndicate linked to an Afghan national accused in the Mundra Port drug seizure case.

The Delhi Police on Wednesday announced the arrest of a married couple who were part of an international narcotic drug syndicate linked to an Afghan national who is an accused in the 2021 Mundra Port drug seizure case.

TOPSHOT - A Delhi police barrier blocks a street during a Delhi state-wide weekend curfew imposed by the authorities to curb the spreading of the Covid-19 coronavirus in New Delhi on January 8, 2022. (Photo by Prakash SINGH / AFP) (AFP)

Investigators said the couple, identified as Zaheer Ahmed alias Adil, 48, and his wife Gulnar (single name shared by police), 39, operated a small heroin and cocaine processing unit at their house at Dilshad Colony in northeast Delhi.

On September 13, 2021, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized nearly 3,000kg of heroin that originated from Afghanistan at the Mundra Port in Gujarat. The police on Wednesday said the couple arrested from Dilshad Colony were working in coordination with Upasana alias Tabassum, the wife of Afghan national Subhan Aryanfar, arrested in 2021 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Mundra Port case.

Giving details of the case, Deputy commissioner of police (east) Amrutha Guguloth said the east district police’s special staff team was tasked with keeping a surveillance over drug peddlers active in the district, and the team had received information about active members of an international drug syndicate.

On Monday evening, the DCP said, a police informer informed the team that alleged drug peddler Zaheer Ahmed would arrive near Lal Bahadur Shastri hospital to deliver a consignment of drugs. Accordingly, the team laid a trap and caught Ahmed with a plastic bag containing 150 grams of cocaine.

“Ahmed was interrogated about the source of the contraband. He disclosed that he processed the drug from cotton clothes embedded with cocaine in raw form with the help of his wife, Gulnar at their home in Dilshad Colony. His house was raided and Gulnar was also arrested. A search at their house led to the recovery of 540 grams of processed cocaine, apart from cotton clothes laced with raw cocaine. One kg of chemicals used to process the drug and implements to extract raw cocaine from the clothes were also recovered from the house,” said a police officer, who was part of the raiding team.

DCP Guguloth said a case under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act was registered at the Kalyanpuri police station, and the couple was arrested. Their interrogation revealed that some months ago, they got acquainted with Upasana aka Tabassum through a common friend, who is an Afghan citizen.

“It was further learnt that Upasana’s husband Subhan Aryanfar was arrested by NIA in December 2021 in connection with the Mundra Port seizure case in which 3,000 kgs of heroin was seized by the DRI. Despite Aryanfar’s arrest, the nefarious activity of drug peddling was continued by his wife with the help of Ahmed and Gulnar,” Guguloth said.