Narco-terrorism suspected in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh 100 crore worth drug bust
NCB seized 50 kgs of high-quality heroin, 47 kgs of supposed narcotics and Rs 30 lakh cash.
Officials informed that an international heroin racket with origins in Afghanistan was busted in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area which has remained in news for all the wrong reasons for a very long time now. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized 97kgs of narcotics comprising of 50 kgs high-quality heroin and another 47 kgs of suspected narcotics from a house in Shaheen Bagh. An amount of Rs 30 lakhs in cash was also recovered from the same house. Other materials such as cash counting machines along with a number of compromising apparatus were enough to raise NCB’s eyebrows.
NCB claims to have busted an Indo-Afghan drug-smuggling racket where goods are smuggled to India through water and land-border routes and heroin is smuggled with legal cargo with help from Pakistani smugglers. The money is then channelled by the means of Hawala mainly to Dubai where the bosses of the racket are presumed to be living.
Sanjay Kumar Singh, NCB Deputy Director General (operations) informed that the drugs were kept in backpacks and jute bags and were wrapped in packets of e-commerce companies like Flipkart amongst others. He further added, “It has been revealed that an Indo-Afghan syndicate based in Delhi and the National Capital Region and the neighbouring states is connected with the case. These syndicates have expertise in manufacturing and adulterating heroin locally.”
The agency said, “The contraband is subsequently extracted from these goods by the Indian members of these syndicates with the help of some Afghan nationals.” So far one person has been arrested in connection with the case, however, the raided house did not belong to him as he had taken it on rent. The arrested person is a 40-year-old businessman who was working in sync with other men in Punjab and other states to procure and sell the drugs.
SN Pradhan, Director-General of NCB said, “There is every possibility of narco-terrorism module. The network is connected to Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East. So there is every chance that there may be a narco-terrorism module. However, it is subject to investigation.” The operation is planned to go on days at a stretch. “This has been going on for several days. More people are involved in this case. We have been trying to catch the entire network. Pakistani nationals were caught in an operation a few days ago,” he added.
Currently, NCB is carrying out search operations to bust the entire network and the traffickers who are linked to operatives situated in various Indian states such as the likes of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi.
