Nuh police bust gang of drug smugglers, five arrested

The Nuh police on Monday arrested five people for their alleged involvement in smuggling drugs from Odisha to Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan

The Nuh police on Monday arrested five people for their alleged involvement in smuggling drugs from Odisha to Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan.

Police said the gang of drug smugglers have been active for the last five years. (Sourced)

Varun Singla, superintendent of police, Nuh, said the smuggling of drugs came to light when three people were arrested on May 3, who, during interrogation, had revealed that they had snatched a a container laden with 313kg of cannabis (ganja), worth ₹50 lakh, near Jaipur from the drug smugglers arrested on Monday and dumped it at a defunct well to hide it.

The investigation was handed over to the anti-narcotics cell and the crime team of Tauru, which traced the trail of the gang and cracked down on the five suspects, before they could remove the consignment and pack it in small portions to sell it in the market.

“We have arrested all the suspects involved in smuggling and selling of drugs. There are two different smuggling gangs and they have no connection. Both the gangs used to smuggle drugs from Odisha, pack it in vegetable trucks, black ash consignments and in other trucks. They were active for the last five years and have sold drugs to the tune of ₹5 crore,” he said.

According to the police, the kingpin of the gang--Mohammad Anwar Khan--who used to send the drugs consignment to Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Nuh, was arrested from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh on Monday.

During interrogation, Khan revealed they were involved in drug smuggling for the last five years. “They made a close group of drug suppliers, transport company officials, drivers, peddlers and consumers. The smugglers came in contact with some people of Nuh, who used to sell ganja and smuggle it to states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Haryana. They lured two people to smuggle ganja from Odisha to different parts of Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi-NCR and promised them ₹40,000 per trip,” said Singla adding the contraband was handed over to at least 20 peddlers in different areas for selling it to prospective customers.

The other gang members were identified as Sanjeev Kumar Shah of Bihar, Surendra alias Sarpanch of Mahendragarh, Praveen of Samalkha in Panipat and Rahul from Delhi, said police.

Singla said teams recovered half kilogram of gold, 1kg of silver, three vehicles and 27 mobile phones from Shah’s rented room in Gurugram. They also recovered three cars from the suspects, which were allegedly bought to deliver consignments.

Police teams have recovered the mobile phones used in the crime. “The suspects received advance payments from the drug suppliers and used to withdraw money from ATMs in different areas. We are yet to verify if their bank accounts were opened with forged documents,” said Singla.

According to police, there has been a spurt in drug smuggling since lockdown and the police have so far recovered drugs worth ₹2 crore from the district in the last one year.