Inter-state drugs cartel busted, two arrested

New Delhi: The Special Cell of Delhi Police busted an inter-state drugs cartel and arrested two narcotics manufacturers allegedly involved in supplying heroin to peddlers in the national capital and neighbouring states, officials said on Thursday.

Two kilogrammes of fine-quality heroin worth Rs 10 crore were seized from Mohammad Alam and Parmanand, both 44, they

said.

The accused duo allegedly processed heroin at a facility in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, and supplied it in Delhi, NCR and other states.

The cartel had been supplying heroin to peddlers in Delhi, NCR, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan for a long time, the police said.

On April 8, acting on a tip-off, the police laid a trap near the Ghazipur subzi mandi and arrested Alam and Parmanand, residents of Bareilly and Badaun in Uttar Pradesh, respectively, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Alok Kumar said.

“Alam revealed that he had been supplying heroin for the past two years to people in Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. He received the consignments from Parmanand,” Kumar said.

Parmanand disclosed that he got a licence from the Uttar Pradesh government to cultivate opium on his land in 2001. After harvesting, he handed over most of the opium to the government but kept some of the produce without the state’s knowledge, the

official

said.

“He sold this opium in the grey market. At that point, he learned to make heroin with locally available items and started manufacturing. He has been in this trade for around 20 years. His main task was to manufacture the heroin while Alam managed the customers,” he said.

Parmanand was previously involved in two cases of drug trafficking and granted bail during the Covid pandemic, the

police said.

An investigation is underway to apprehend the cartel’s other members, they

added.