NEW DELHI: A day after one of its biggest hauls in recent times, the sleuths of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested three more accused including two Afghan nationals.
NCB on Thursday recovered 97 kg of drugs along with Rs 30 lakhs in cash from a residential premise in the Shaheen Bagh area of Delhi. The agency had arrested a 40-year-old in connection with what is suspected to be an international drug smuggling racket.
A senior NCB official told The New Indian that the anti-drug law enforcement agency apprehended the three accused, two Afghan nationals and one Indian citizen, upon various revelations made by the person who was arrested yesterday and agencies’ own intelligence inputs.
The official said that the three accused were apprehended from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi respectively. Presently, all are under NCB custody for further investigation in the case, he added.
Meanwhile, another NCB official, wishing not to be named, said that the arrested accused has been identified as Imran Aamir, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar. One of the Afghan nationals has been identified as Abdul Rao Kadak from Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar area.
All the accused have been arrested under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Meanwhile, a senior official from the agency claimed that the “mastermind” of the drug syndicate is based in Dubai. “We are probing the case further, including certain links with Pakistan-based narcotics operatives,” he added.
The official said that the NCB is carrying out searches in Punjab, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi to bust the entire network of the drug traffickers.
On Thursday, NCB Director General (DG) SN Pradhan speaking to the media said that “terror links cannot be ruled out” in this case and the agency is probing these connections further.
NCB Deputy Director General (operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh on Thursday said that the seized heroin originated from Afghanistan and the cash found is suspected to have been channelled through hawala (illegal routing of cash).
“It has been revealed that an Indo-Afghan syndicate based in Delhi, the National Capital Region and the neighbouring states is connected with the case. These syndicates have expertise in manufacturing and adulterating heroin locally,” he said.
The agency also said that the India-Afghanistan drug syndicates smuggle goods into India through maritime as well as land routes and heroin is smuggled with legitimate goods and cargo.