4 drug cartels busted, heroin worth Rs 332 cr seized

New Delhi: Special Cell of Delhi Police on Friday said that they busted four international narcotics networks that were using the capital city as a transit point, recovering a total of 83 kgs of heroin worth Rs 332 cr. Police said it was the biggest drug seizure operation in Delhi Police history.

According to police, 12 arrests were made in the last few weeks which included the apprehension of several drug carriers, receivers and the kingpin of one of the cartels, one Shamuta Banu (54) who was operating her network from Nagaon, Assam.

DCP Pramod Khushwaha said that two key members of Banu's syndicate were caught near Indraprastha Park with 21 kgs of heroin. Their information led to raiding Banu's home in Assam, further resulting in seizure of 23.5 kgs of heroin.

"Banu's supplier was based in Manipur and was procuring the substance from Myanmar," DCP Khushwaha said.

Police also arrested three Afghan nationals from Lajpat Nagar area, two of whom were transporting 2 kgs of ingested heroin capsules through airlines from Afghanistan.

DCP Khushwaha added that two of them had swallowed more than 20 capsules each in order to pass it on to their contact in Delhi, the third Afghan national. Their information further led to the arrest of a Nigerian national, possessing 550 gm of heroin.

DCP Sanjeev Yadav added that his team busted two other interstate drug cartels resulting in the seizure of 36 kgs of heroin. Key members of both the cartels, who were operating under orders from their handlers, based in Bareilly, UP, were arrested.

Police said that the heroin was coming in from Manipur.

Police said that these networks were passing drug consignments to contacts and receivers in Delhi, who would then pass the narcotics along to northern states in India and across international borders like Middle-East, Afghanistan, Myanmar and even as far as the US. DCP Khushwaha added that while there has been no evidence linking these networks to narco-terrorism, the team has not ruled it out as of yet. Cases against all accused have been registered at Special Cell police station under all relevant sections.