In what is being stated at the biggest ever contraband haul in India, Delhi Police have busted an international heroin racket controlled by a Taliban leader yesterday in the capital city. As per reports, the police had discovered a consignment of heroin belonging to the cartel that is estimated to push heroin worth 5000 crores in India.
As per reports, a Delhi police special cell had carried out a 120-days long operation to track the cartel that involves a Taliban leader in Afghanistan and his Pakistani partner. After the long operation, Delhi police finally managed to seize a cargo of about 150kgs of heroin that was loaded in a convoy of six cars. The seized drugs are said to be worth Rs 600 crores.
The cars were plying in various routes around Delhi and Amritsar. The cartel reportedly hid the drug in jute strings. The strings were then woven into bags and the bags were filled with spices and dry fruits that were being exported to India.
DCP Manishi Chandra of the Delhi police special cell has informed News 18 that the cartel uses a sophisticated method that involves soaking jute strings in a specially prepared heroin solution. The drug is soaked into the strings and made into bags where each bag, when carefully extracted, yields a kg of heroin.
After the cargo of spices and condiments is emptied, the bags are sent to the labs to extract the drug. The extracted heroin is then processed and made into top quality Afghan heroin and packed into kilogram size bags for further transportation.
The Delhi police operation has also busted a secret laboratory in Zakir Nagar area in Delhi, where the drug was being extracted from the carefully made bags.
As per the police, the heroin sewn jute bags were being prepared in several locations of Afghanistan like Khyogani and Jalalabad. The cartel’s business is estimated at Rs 5000 crores. The Delhi police special cell cracked the module after the cars carrying the contraband were tracked down and seized.
Five of the cars had the contraband in them while the sixth car was being driven by a kingpin who worked as a spotter for the cartel. Five smugglers, including two chemical experts of Afghan origin, were also arrested by the police. A sixth person was reportedly nabbed yesterday.
The police special cell is currently on the lookout for the Indian receiver of the cartel. He is a UP-based businessman who is currently absconding. He is believed to be the sole receiver of the drug sewn jute bags in India.
The operation has revealed the extent and level of sophistication that is being employed by terrorist elements in Pakistan and Afghanistan to peddle drugs in India. The presence of Afghan chemical expert in the cartel also shows how advanced the entire operation was.
The secret lab at Zakir Nagar is located at a densely populated region where the drug was being extracted and processed in a very industrial and sophisticated setup. The suspicions were first raised when the ‘convoy like’ movement of sedans was noticed in a relatively poor neighbourhood, often carrying ‘foreign-looking’ persons.
Following the alarm, a deep operation was launched by Delhi police 4 months ago with inspector Sunil Ranjan, Ravinder Joshi and Vindo Badola. Finally, the police team got to know that a large consignment was being delivered at Lajpat Nagar on July 17.
The contraband carrying cars and the arrested individuals eventually led the police to the Zakir Nagar lab where more amounts of the drug and weapons were discovered.
The arrested individuals are named Shinwari Rehmat Gul and Akhtar Mohammad Shinwari from Afghanistan. The Indian nationals are named Vakeel Ahmed from Batla House, Dheeraj from Faridabad and Raees Khan from Maharani Bagh in Delhi.
Earlier in March, the police had busted another Afghan cartel that was using capsules of heroin that were swallowed by carriers to pass through airport security. In April, the police had bust another cartel that was using Afghan and Nigerian nationals to smuggle heroin. That operation had seized heroin worth Rs 125 crores.
