Foreigners in Delhi-NCR on STF radar as it hunts for drug suppliers
The police are preparing a database of foreign nationals visiting Delhi-NCR and of party organisers and drug peddlers, who are using social media, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, to send invitation to parties.
Starting Friday, mufti-clad policemen will keep vigil at all party destinations across Gurugram and at all inter-city and inter-state border roads to keep a check on narcotics being supplied. The police hope to be able to crack the heroin and cocaine supply routes and nab the kingpin supplying these drugs to peddlers in the national capital region (NCR).
The police are also preparing a database of foreign nationals visiting Delhi-NCR and of party organisers and drug peddlers, who are using social media, including Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp, to send invitation to parties. “The STF team is trying to track them by searching keywords and code words used by addicts,” he said.
“Special Task Force (STF) teams will be deployed at all borders with Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan to try and check the entry of narcotics in the city. We have also told our informers to stay alert and keep us posted,” deputy inspector general (DIG), STF, Satheesh Balan said, adding that nightclubs, pub, bars, farmhouses and private party spots are being closely monitored as they have turned into hotspots for the sale of drugs.
“Heroin is in demand at parties that are mostly held at farmhouses. People from Delhi-NCR plan parties at city’s outskirt and contact peddlers to supply drugs well in advance. The price of these drugs shoots up during this season because of spurt in demand,” Balan said.
According to the police, demand for drugs is the highest in December, January and February as most parties are planned during this season. Local drug peddlers sell heroin in pouches of 1gm costing between ₹1,500 and ₹2,500 depending on the quality and type of customer.
“Most heroin and cocaine is smuggled to India from foreign countries. Last year, we recovered a huge quantity of heroin in the city, as compared to the entire state. Three big fish were arrested, all of them were foreign nationals. The drugs brought into Gururgam were supplied to, among others, school and college students,” Balan said.
Last year, the police arrested 113 people, recovered 880 kilograms of drugs from the city, including 5.5kg heroin that is worth ₹35 crore in the international market, and registered 94 cases under the NDPS Act.
The recovery of such large quantities of heroin was a major development since the formation of the STF in March, last year. Police said some foreign nationals are suspected to be supplying these drugs and that they too are on their radar this year.
“Many foreign nationals who came to India on a business visa and are now operating from Delhi. We have arrested three major suppliers, all of whom are Nigerian nationals. The foreign nationals supply drugs to the pub, bar and clubs on MG Road, Golf Course Extension Road and Sohna Road,” Balan said.
Sources at STF said they have been told that international passengers were involved in illegally transporting cocaine and heroin to foreign nationals in Delhi and that they are working to crack that link. “The men involved in routing drugs from Mexico, Peru and Norway are yet to be identified and we are investigating the source of drugs in the region and their supply routes,” Balan said.