2 women, part of an interstate smuggling racket, held with 2 kilos of heroin in Dwarka

The crime branch said the women were on their way to Punjab in a cab with the drug consignment when they were arrested on July 28.

Two women from west Delhi’s Uttam Nagar, who are part of a racket smuggling heroin from the national capital to Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, were arrested from Dwarka with around two kilograms of heroin.

Police said the two women have been supplying large quantities of drugs to various cities of Punjab, Haryana, Bareilly, Mumbai and Kolkata for the past two years. (Representational image)

The crime branch said the women – Caroline Phocum (56) and Madhu (40) -- were on their way to Punjab in a cab with the drug consignment when they were arrested on July 28. Police said they are in the process of unearthing the others involved in the racket.

Joint commissioner of police (crime) Alok Kumar said police had received information about a drugs syndicate run by a Nigerian national. “We learnt that the syndicate is involved in drug trafficking from Delhi to Punjab, Haryana, UP, Mumbai and Kolkata after procuring it from Afghanistan. The informer revealed that two women drug handlers would go to Punjab to delivery a huge consignment of heroin in a cab on July 28. We laid a trap and arrested the two women near Dwarka Mod, while they were on their way to Punjab in a cab. We recovered two kilograms of fine quality heroin,” Kumar said.

“They met in jail and became good friends. In jail, they came in contact with a Nigerian national named Henry, who too was behind bars for drug trafficking. He recruited them. When the two women came out on bail, they joined the drug trafficking gang and proved quite useful, as police do not usually suspect middle-age women,” said Joint CP Kumar.

Police said the two women have been supplying large quantities of drugs to various cities of Punjab, Haryana, Bareilly, Mumbai and Kolkata for the past two years. “They revealed that the heroin comes from Afghanistan and Pakistan. They got ₹1 lakh each for every trip they made out of Delhi. Investigation of the case is in progress and raids are being conducted to unearth the drug syndicate,” added Joint CP Kumar.

Meanwhile, in another operation, police arrested a man from Bihar for smuggling around 20kg marijuana from Bihar into the Capital, for distribution in parts of northwest Delhi.

The suspect, Vikas Kumar (27) told police that he worked at a shop selling electrical items in Shaheen Bagh but had lost his job during the second lockdown due to Covid-19 and turned to drug smuggling to make money.

Police said they are questioning Kumar to trace his accomplices.