New Delhi: In a major bust of narcotic drugs in the national capital, sleuths today arrested three people, including an NRI Canadian and two Nigerians and seized "fine quality" contraband worth about Rs 50 crore from them.
The high-value seizure includes 8.4 kg refined Mexican cocaine which was being smuggled into India from Lagos (Nigeria) and Douala in Cameroon.
This is the second big operation over the weekend by the sleuths of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) after they had arrested a Nigerain national with 8 kg cocaine worth Rs 40 crore on October 28.
In the first case today, NRI Kanwar Baljit Singh (36), holding a Canadian passport, was arrested with opium after a raid was conducted in the wee hours by them in a hotel in Karol Bagh area of central Delhi.
"Singh was deploying a clever modus operandi of concealing opium in a packet of Gulkand (a sweetener) and booking the contraband as air cargo to Canada. His contacts in India and abroad are under investigation," NCB Deputy Director General (North) R P Singh said.
The opium is suspected to have been brought either from Punjab or Rajasthan for being smuggled overseas.
In the second incident, the agency caught two Nigerians from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.
While Nwachara Chidieberek was allegedly travelling from Lagos to Delhi with 5 kg cocaine hidden in his luggage, Ezechi Nwankwo was allegedly coming from Cameroon via Adis Ababa with 3.4 kg of the same contraband.
"The Nigerains were picked up from the immigration counter of IGI. These arrests are based on vital intelligence inputs and we are on alert regarding all such instances of drugs being sent into the country," Singh said.
PTI
