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NCB busts international Afghan drug racket in Delhi-NCR
The contraband recovered by NCB on Wednesday from Jamia Nagar was stored in a rented accommodation, packed in packets of an e-commerce company’s bags to avoid the attention of authorities during transportation.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has unearthed an international drug smuggling racket with the recovery of 50 kg high quality Afghan heroin, 47 kg other narcotic substances, ₹30 lakh in cash and a cash counting machine. The agency has also arrested a person in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar area.
Sanjay Kumar Singh, deputy director general (operations) of NCB, said an Indo-Afghan syndicate based in Delhi-NCR and neighbouring states, having links in north Indian regions as well as other countries including Pakistan and Afghanistan, seems to be connected with the case.
He said these syndicates have expertise in manufacturing and adultering heroin within India.
The heroin was being smuggled to India by inter-state smugglers in the garb of import of textiles, spices and other goods from sea and land routes and the drug money was changed through hawala operations, Singh said.
“These syndicates have been smuggling goods to India through maritime as well as land border routes wherein heroin was smuggled in with various legitimate goods. Heroin was later extracted from those goods by the Indian counterparts with the help of some Afghan nationals. Several raids were conducted and are still going on to bust the entire network. The syndicate was found to be connected with drug traffickers of entire northern region including states of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Uttarakhand and Delhi,” Singh said.
The contraband recovered by NCB on Wednesday from Jamia Nagar was stored in a rented accommodation, packed in packets of an e-commerce company’s bags to avoid the attention of authorities during transportation.
According to rough estimates, the cost of 50 kg Afghan heroin in the international market is around ₹350 crore while 47 kg of other narcotic substances has been sent to a laboratory for identification.
An official, who didn’t want to be named, said a Dubai-based person was running this syndicate in India and they were also manufacturing and adultering heroin at some locations in India, adding that places where it was being manufactured include Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.
The name of the arrested member of the syndicate has also been kept under wraps as several of his associates are under the radar and several arrests are likely to take place in the coming days.
Gyaneshwar Singh, DDG (northern range) of NCB, said the investigation into other aspects of the syndicate including hawala, is going on.
