Drug network probe leads to kingpin in Tihar jail

Chandra Mohan Makkar, drug peddler and a resident of Tihar jail for a decade and a half, used the country’s most secure jail as a safe house to run his drug empire. HT reports.

Chandra Mohan Makkar, a resident of Tihar jail for a decade and a half, used the country’s most secure jail as a safe house to run his drug empire.

HT Image

Makkar is no ordinary peddler. He leads a huge gang, owns heroin-manufacturing units at Sonepat in Haryana and Sahibabad in Uttar Pradesh and has his clients all over in the US, Canada, South Africa and different European countries.

A fortnight ago, the Delhi Police accidentally stumbled upon Makkar’s network while two men arrested for carrying high-quality heroin led the police on Thursday to the factories.

Arun Kampani, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), said Makkar used the jail's visiting hours to conduct his business meetings.

Asked how one should interpret a global drug trail, leading to one of the most secure prison facilities in the Capital, Neeraj Kumar, director general (prisons) told HT that the jail authorities couldn’t stop the inmates from meeting friends and family.

But he said, “We are streamlining the procedure and have put checks in place to ensure that conduits of criminals are not allowed to conduct business from the jail.”