Delhi Police busts international drug cartel, seizes 23 kgs heroin worth over Rs 90 crore; 5 arrested

NEW DELHI: An international narcotic drug cartel was busted by the Delhi Police on Friday (September 12) with the seizure of 23 kilograms of fine quality heroin worth over Rs 90 crore. Five key members of the cartel were arrested including the kingpin of the whole operation. 

"A team of Special Cell/Southern Range has busted an international narcotic drug cartel by arresting its five key members. The team was led by Inspector Shiv Kumar and Inspector Karamvir Singh under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Attar Singh," the statement said. 

The key members arrested were Uday Kumar (30), Subodh Das (26) and Sanjeev Kumar (25) from Bihar, Nityanand (28) and Rahul Handique (30) from Assam. As per a statement from the Delhi Police, the cartel smuggled heroin in India from Myanmar via Manipur. 

Uday, Subodh and Sanjeev were arrested on the evening of September 8 from Outer Ring Road, near Mukundpur chowk. Twenty kilograms of heroin were recovered by them. The car had a cavity shaped like pipes underneath the running board of the car to conceal and transport the narcotic substances. 

Nityanand and Rahul were arrested on September 9 from the Ring Road T-point in Pragati Maidan and three kilograms of heroin, two from Nityanand and one from Rahul was recovered. Their car with a secret cavity behind the music system used for concealing the drugs was also seized from the duo. 

"A team of the Special Cell was working on information that an International narcotics cartel was active in the states of Manipur, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi. Members of this cartel were involved in receiving supply of heroin in Bokajan (Assam), which came from Myanmar through Manipur and further supplied this drug to various parts of the country. This information was painstakingly developed over four months through human surveillance. During this process, members of this cartel were identified and their activities were kept under discreet surveillance," the statement said. 

It further informed, "On September 8, the Special Cell team received information that three members of this cartel namely Uday, Subodh and Sanjeev had collected a big consignment of heroin from North-East India and would come near Mukundpur Chowk between 6 pm to 7 pm that night to deliver the supply of contraband to one of their contacts. A raiding party was constituted and a trap was laid in the area." 

"A vehicle stopped at about 6:15 pm and one occupant of the car, later identified as Uday Kumar, came with a back-pack bag out from the car and started to wait. After a five minutes wait, members of the police team surrounded Uday. On seeing this, two other occupants of the car, later on, identified as Subodh and Sanjeev, with back-pack bags exited the vehicle and attempted to escape but both were also nabbed by the police team," the statement added. 

The trio was searched and 20 kilograms of heroin was recovered. A case under the appropriate sections of law under the NDPS act was registered at PS Special Cell. As per the statement, the arrested persons disclosed that they had procured the supply of the heroin from one Nityanand of Assam in Delhi and that his associate driver, Rahul, had also accompanied them to Lucknow. 

"Nityanand and Rahul stopped in Lucknow to deliver another consignment of heroin and asked to meet them in Delhi with more heroin. In pursuant of disclosures of arrested persons, Nityanand and Rahul were nabbed near a bus stop at about 8:20 pm at the Ring Road-Bhairon Road T-point," it added. 

According to the statement, interrogation revealed that they were all members of a big international narcotic drug cartel run by Nityanand himself. "Nityanand stated that the recovered consignment of heroin was supplied to him by a notorious drug supplier in Manipur who had links with drug suppliers in Myanmar. He has also disclosed that there is widespread illegal cultivation of opium in bordering areas of Manipur, through which drug manufacturers prepare heroin. He also disclosed that the quality of heroin smuggled from Myanmar and Manipur was much superior to heroin produced in licitly cultivated opium areas in India like Bareilly, Badaun, Barabanki in UP, Mandsaur in MP and Jhalawar, Chittorgarh and Bhawani Mandi," it added.