Drug fight: 25 foreigners in its net, Kullu police nabs another African national
Shimla: With the arrest of 25 foreign nationals in the past 19 months in the biggest ever drive against drug mafia having international links, Himachal Pradesh police has made yet another breakthrough in smashing drug trafficking chains, operating in Kullu district–a hotspot in the smuggling of narcotics.
A 27-year African national, who had gone underground following the arrest of some men in Kullu last year has finally been nabbed in Delhi by a team of nine policemen headed by Sunil Sankhyan, an Inspector.
Superintendent of Police, Kullu, Gaurav Singh said on Sunday that the police had been in search of this person ever since seizure of 36 gram of heroin from a person at Bhunter (Kullu). His arrest will provide more clues to the police to understand the real modus operandi of the noted drug smugglers and people involved in the network.
" The accused, who happens to be a key-supplier operating from Delhi is identified as Tochukwu E -Nwaiwu alias Jimmy Toba. He hails from Owerri ( Nigeria). The police team has brought him to Kullu for further investigations. He neither holds a valid passport nor any visa but continued to stay in India to run a network of drugs smuggling," he said.
The police team has recovered five mobile phones and a laptop from his possession.
Besides filing FIR against him under NDPS Act and different sections of the IPC, he has also been charged under the foreigners Act.
The preliminary inquiries have revealed that he had been smuggling around 10 kg of heroin through a network of peddlers based in Kullu and several other places.
Early this month, Kullu police had recovered 6.273 kg of heroin worth Rs 25 crores from another African national in Delhi at tip-off provided by some persons arrested at Bhunter (Kullu) sometime back. In January itself, the police made headlines by recovering the biggest haul of 123 kg of drugs during a night-long raid against smugglers in Kullu's forested valleys.
"Can you imagine the impact of such a big seizure and arrest of some of the kingpins who had remained out of the reach from the police? We have adopted a zero-tolerance policy against the drugs, and those mafias operating from Delhi or elsewhere will not be able to escape anymore," said Director General of police, Sanjay Kundu.
Since July 2019, Kullu police have arrested a total 25 foreign nationals, of which 19 alone hail from African countries arrested from their hideouts in Delhi. They are involved in the supply of heroin and "chitta" –a synthetic drug fast becoming the preferred choice of youths, both boys and girls in Himachal Pradesh.
Kullu is already infamous for cultivation of Cannabis, which is the source of Charas having the biggest demand in the international markets for its brand named "Malana cream" –identified with Kullu's high altitude landlocked ancient village Malana. Now, not only Kullu but parts of Mandi, Shimla and Chamba have also taken the lead in drug trafficking and cultivation of cannabis .
