In largest drug haul, 150kg heroin seized in Delhi

Shinwari Rehmat Gul, 30, and Akhtar Mohammad Shinwari, 31, both from Afghanistan, Vakeel Ahmed, 36, Raees Khan, 43, and Dheeraj alias Deepak, 21 were arrested.

Claiming it to be the biggest drug haul ever, the Delhi Police Friday said it has seized 150kg heroin worth around Rs600 crore in the international market and arrested five men, including two from Afghanistan.

Police said the contraband was smuggled into India from Afghanistan using a unique modus operandi wherein jute bags were soaked in liquefied heroin and packed with spices and condiments and sent to India.

Once the bags reach the country, the contraband is retrieved at a special processing lab.

Police said they busted one such lab at a house in south Delhi’s Zakir Nagar. The unit was meant to extract heroin from the jute bags, turn it into crystals and pack it for supply to Punjab and others states.

Those arrested were Shinwari Rehmat Gul,30, and Akhtar Mohammad Shinwari,31, both from Afghanistan, Vakeel Ahmed,36, Raees Khan,43, and Dheeraj alias Deepak,21. Four cars — Toyota Camry, Honda Civic, Toyota Altis and Toyota Corolla — that were being used to smuggle the heroin to other states were also seized.

“The packets of heroin were hidden in cavities created between the rear seat and the boot of these cars to avoid detection. The Indian masterminds of this drug syndicate have been identified and efforts are on to apprehend them,” Manishi Chandra, deputy commissioner of police (counter intelligence, special cell), said.

DCP Chandra said for the past few months, the special cell team was receiving information about a convoy-type movement of sedans from Zakir Nagar, which was quite uncharacteristic, given the demography and socio-economic profile of the locality. The convoys often carried persons of foreign origin, apart from Indians, Chandra said.

“It was also learnt that the convoy used to leave Delhi in the late hours and stopped only after crossing the border,” Chandra said.

Once it was confirmed that the group was drug peddlers, the police late Wednesday intercepted two cars, and recovered 30kg of heroin from each vehicle, a special cell officer said.

Interrogation of the cars’ occupants — Dheeraj and Raees Khan — led the police to the Zakir Nagar house where the heroin processing unit was being set up by two Afghan nationals. Another 60 kilograms of processed heroin was seized from there.

“Thirty kilograms of the contraband was seized from another car parked outside and a fifth man was arrested. A total of 150kg of heroin has been seized. Its total value in the international market is Rs600 crore,” said Chandra.

He said they value the seizure based on per kilo rates of heroin mentioned on the website of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. “As per the website, one kilo of heroin is around Rs40 lakh at the point of sale (where the contraband in raw form is produced and processed). The drug has to pass through six or seven channels to finally reach India. Drug dealers has to bear 30% to 40% illicit value addition in the actual rate at each channel. Eventually, when the contraband reaches India, it costs between Rs3.5 and Rs4 crore per kg, depending on quality,” the DCP said.

Two semi-automatic pistols with 20 cartridges were also recovered, which, as the arrested men disclosed, were used by the cartel as security cover when important movements were made.

DCP Chandra said the dealers in Afghanistan’s Jalalabad dissolved crude heroin in a preservative solution and jute bags were soaked in the solution and dried under infrared light.

“A network of operatives ensures that all marked jute bags, after emptying the cargo, are sent to the lab where the heroin is carefully extracted, reconstituted and processed into crystals. It was then packed for transportation to other states and also for transnational movement through southern states from where they reach Sri Lanka and eventually other countries,” he said.