Drug peddler at large for nine years arrested in Delhi

The Delhi Police’s narcotics cell arrested one of the most wanted drug traffickers of Bareily, Taimoor Khan alias Bhola (37), who was wanted in nine cases, from north-east Delhi’s Seelampur on Thursday, bringing down the curtain on a nine-year-long search operation that was spread over several parts of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, said senior officers of the narcotics cell on Sunday

The Delhi Police’s narcotics cell arrested one of the most wanted drug traffickers of Bareily, Taimoor Khan alias Bhola (37), who was wanted in nine cases, from north-east Delhi’s Seelampur on Thursday, bringing down the curtain on a nine-year-long search operation that was spread over several parts of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, said senior officers of the narcotics cell on Sunday.

The suspect Bhola was caught by the Delhi Police narcotics team near Seelampur Metro station on Thursday (Sanchit Khanna/ HT photo)

The special cell and the crime branch of the Delhi Police conducted multiple raids in the past nine years to arrest Bhola, who carried a reward of ₹1.5 lakh on his arrest. Because of his Robinhood image among the people of his village (Behra in Bareilly) and the areas surrounding it, locals used to give him prior information about police movement, said deputy commissioner of police (narcotics cell) Chinmoy Biswal.

“Bhola donated money to needy people with an open heart to gain their support. He had garnered such a strong support in 10-15 surrounding villages that if anyone noticed a vehicle bearing the registration number of Delhi or Haryana around his village, he used to get the information immediately and ample time to flee. Children in his village used to play a game named “Bhola bhaag gaya” by making two teams – one of narcotics cell and the other of special cell, as both the teams regularly conducted raids,” said Biswal.

Around three months ago, the narcotics cell mapped the drug prone areas of Delhi and identified 14 hotspots, where sale and use of drugs were maximum. A crackdown followed and the interrogation of the arrested drug peddlers revealed that their source of heroin/smack was from Bareilly, Badaun, and Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. Total eight Bareilly-based drug suppliers were arrested. The last man to be arrested was Shahid Khan alias Chote Pradhan, who is the head (pradhan) of Padhera village in Bareilly. Bhola worked closely with Pradhan in the drug trafficking ring, said police.

On September 16, the narcotics team received information that Bhola was coming to Seelampur in search of a safe hideout since he feared all his hideouts were exposed after Pradhan’s arrest. The team laid a trap and caught Bhola near Seelampur metro station. He was arrested for his involvement in a drug peddling case registered in 2018, in which 700 grams of heroin was seized from a drug peddler in Delhi identified as Vinod, who named Bhola as the supplier of the contraband, said the DCP.

During interrogation, police said, Bhola revealed that after completing his graduation from Bareilly college, he took admission in a private university to pursue MBA as he aspired to work in a multinational company. However, because of financial crisis, he quit the course and joined a drug supplier in his village in 2007, who made him his carrier of the contraband. Bhola was paid ₹1,600 per trip for the carrying drugs to Delhi. He was first arrested with 670 grams of smack in Delhi in 2008 and remained in jail for seven months, after which he was acquitted in the case.

After his release from jail, Bhola continued his illegal work as a drug carrier. He later formed his own gang of suppliers, carriers and clients. He also learnt the art of manufacturing heroin using crude opium top extracts and chemicals, whose supply was done by his contacts in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Manipur., said police.