4 held with heroine worth rs 2,500 cr; Special Cell probing Pak & narco terrorism angle

With the seizure of 354 kg heroin worth Rs 2500 crore Rs, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police have busted an international drug cartel and have arrested four persons including one Afghanistan national. DCP of Special Cell Pramod Kushwaha said that ACP Lalit Mohan Negi and Inspector Vinod Kumar Badola had got a tip-off regarding the gang and a team was formed to nab them. 

The special cell conducted raids at several places and was able to arrest all the accused who were identified as Hazrat Ali (Afghanistan national), Rizwan Ahmed, Gurjot Singh and Gurdeep Singh. The official said that this drug racket extends to Afghanistan, Europe and many states of the country. A total of 354 kgs of high purity Heroin and about 100 KG of Chemicals used for the preparation of the contraband have been seized from them. 

In 2019 the special cell had arrested an Afghanistan national for supplying heroin. Since then the cell was working on various inputs. ACP Lalit Mohan Negi and Inspector Vinod received a tip-off that Rizwan Ahmed is involved in supplying heroin in Delhi and another state. Acting on the tip-off Rizwan was held from South Delhi's Ghitorni area. This arrest led to the tip of an iceberg.

Rizwan revealed that he had been working under the command of an Afghan National Isha Khan who recently left India and is now based in Afghanistan. Isha Khan directed Rizwan Kashmiri to contact Gurpreet Singh and Gurjot Singh, both residents of Punjab and who are currently operating a drug racket from Faridabad. Immediately a raid was conducted and both Singh brothers were held. Further, at the instance of Rizwan Kashmiri, an Afghan National Hazrat Ali was then arrested from Gurugram.

The supplying process

Opium grown in parts of Afghanistan is concealed in different legitimate exports i.e. talc stone, gypsum powder, basil seeds and packaging material like gunny bags, cartons etc. The same is then transported in containers to Chabahar port of Iran. From there, the consignments containing the contraband are shipped to JNPT Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust Mumbai. Thereafter the said material is separated from the legitimate exports and sent to the makeshift factories based in Shiv Puri, MP for its further extraction and subsequent processing to get the final product ie Heroin. The locals with the help of Afghan experts process the heroin and the various chemicals required for this process are procured by the network members from various chemical shops located in MP and Delhi. After preparation, the Heroin is then delivered. 

Pakistan angle and narco-terrorism

The official said that they are working on all possible angles as the accused persons have some links with Pakistan-based persons. They are also probing the narco-terrorism angle. 

(Image: Republicworld.com)