In continuation of its operations against drug syndicates, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Sunday conducted raids in Mumbai and Delhi and seized drugs worth crores.
In Mumbai, 590 grams of Hashish, 0.64 grams of LSD sheets, 304 grams marijuana, including imported marijuana joints and capsules, Rs 1,85,200 in cash, and 5,000 Indonesian Rupiah were seized by the NCB.
One person namely Anuj Keshwani is under examination for questioning. His name was revealed during the interrogation of Kaizan Ebrahim who had disclosed that Anuj Keshwani was his supplier for the contrabands.
Seized LSD sheets.
Kaizan Ebrahim came to spotlight in the Sushant Singh Rajput case. Since the NCB took charge to probe the drug angle in Sushant Singh Rajput’s case, names of several drug peddlers operating in Mumbai have been thrown up. Of them, five came under NCB’s scanner, and they’ve all been traced back to Rhea Chakraborty’s brother, Showik. They are – Zaid Vilatra, Kaizan Ebrahim, Basit Parihar, Abbas Lakhani and Karan Arora. Kaizan Ebrahim was arrested on September 2.
Meanwhile, in Delhi, NCB on Sunday busted an international heroin smuggling syndicate and arrested seven persons, including foreigners, and seized drugs worth about Rs 48 crore in Delhi.
Among the arrested are an African man and a woman from Myanmar, the federal anti-narcotics agency said.
The agency unearthed a modus operandi where the mastermind was coordinating the operations from abroad by creating various layers of anonymity.
“To circumvent the current situation of controlled international passenger flights, the mastermind and the syndicate involved were exploiting the international courier route,” NCB Deputy Director (Operations) KPS Malhotra said in a statement.
The operation began early this month with the seizure of a parcel, originating from South Africa, containing 970gm of heroin from a courier service in the national capital.
“In order to unearth the full trail, NCB chief Rakesh Asthana issued an order to initiate the controlled delivery procedure to the Delhi zonal unit of the agency to track the beneficiaries of the seized parcel.
“The controlled delivery mechanism empowers NCB to keep the parcel delivery alive, even after seizing the contraband and replacing the same with the dummy parcel,” Malhotra said.
Under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the NCB director-general is authorised to order a controlled delivery operation to unravel all layers of a drug cartel or syndicate.
The parcel led the agency to arrest Indian nationals identified as Wahid, Mohsin, Shahjahan, Hanif and Munnasir from a hotel in the Mahipalpur area of Delhi, Malhotra said.
Their interrogation led the NCB to another parcel containing about 980 gms of heroin.
Later, a lady from Myanmar and an African were also arrested.
“Two live parcels are also being identified and they will be seized in the near future. The credentials of the Burmese and the African national are being verified.
“The international value of the seized heroin including the one kept in the yet-to-be seized parcels is estimated to be more than Rs 48 crore,” the NCB officer said.
(With PTI inputs)