Kolkata: A team comprising officers from Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), US Department of Justice, on Tuesday interrogated the five Chinese nationals, who were arrested from Kolkata Railway Station a few days ago, on charges of their involvement in a drug peddling racket.
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had arrested all five of them on June 30 and initiated a probe in this connection.
Three officers of the DEA including one Indian went to Bhawani Bhavan, the CID headquarters, and interrogated the five arrested persons, who are in the custody of the CID till July 13.
Sources said the interrogation continued for around four long hours and the investigating officers from the
US questioned the arrested persons to know different aspects of their drug
smuggling racket. As there was a language barrier, an interpreter was there to help in smooth
interrogation.
It is learnt that officers of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) also interrogated all five of them and the agency may have taken them in their custody to get more information from them.
Sources said the arrested Chinese nationals were asked to reveal the modus operandi they had taken up to successfully carry on with the smuggling of drugs that include methamphetamine and
amphetamine. As all five of them are from Guandong province of China, the investigating officers are trying to unearth how far they had managed to spread the tentacles of their racket.
It was on July 4, when a team comprising senior officers of the CID had unearthed a factory run by the Chinese to produce narcotic substances at Naoda in
Murshidabad.
The investigating officers of CID had come to know about the factory at Naoda after arresting the Chinese nations - Wang Zio Dong, Zeu Gong Hue, Chang Heu, Lee Chand and Lue Bouk Seoung. Around 197 kg drug was recovered from them and according to a police officer, it was worth Rs 39 crore.
The investigating officers also came to know from locals that the arrested people used to run a factory on a 15-bigha land saying that they produce charcoal from jute stick. But it was closed down a few months ago.
The CID officers had found some bags in the factory that was suspected to be used for packing drugs.