New Delhi: The revelation of such illicit business having Dubai-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India connection has come to the fore after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized 50 kg high quality Heroin, 47 kg suspected narcotics, 30 lacs drug money in cash, cash counting machines and other incriminating material from a residential premises in Delhi's Jamia Nagar area on Wednesday.
"We have got links to substantiate the fact that the kingpin of this drug business are operating from Dubai," said a senior NCB official to ETV Bharat in New Delhi. The official said that a massive manhunt has been launched to nab the people who are working as a middlemen for the Dubai based kingpin. One Indian national has also been arrested in the drug seizure case that took place on Wednesday.
Acting on a tip off, NCB sleuths made Wednesday's seizure of the contraband that was stored in travel bags, bag packs and jute sac. "The seized Heroin originated from Afghanistan and the drug money suspected to be channelled through Hawala. The seized Heroin was packed in packings of flipkart," said NCB's deputy director general (operation) Sanjay Kumar Singh.
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During the ongoing investigations, it has been revealed that an Indo- Afghan syndicate based in Delhi and NCR and neighbouring states seems to be connected in the case. "These syndicates have expertise in manufacturing and adultering Heroin locally," Singh said. The syndicate was found to be connected with drug traffickers of entire north region including states of Punjab, Haryana, UP, Uttarakhand and Delhi.
Disclosing about the modus operandi, Singh said that these syndicates have been smuggling goods to India through maritime as well as land border route wherein heroin was smuggled in with various legitimate goods. The syndicate used to bring the drugs into India through illicit trafficking in garb of textiles, spices and other goods. "Heroin was later extracted from those goods by the Indian counterparts with the help of some Afghan nationals," he said. Singh said that the syndicate were using the Attari model to inject drugs into India.
Custom officials have recently seized 102 kg of heroin valued Rs 700 crore in the international market from the Attari integrated checkpost in Punjab. The contraband was concealed in special wooden logs. However, Wednesday's seizure in the national capital has once again exposed the Indo-Afghan syndicate which manufacture Heroin locally and also smuggled through international borders through maritime and land borders.
"It's a major international Heroin trafficking network," Singh added. The development has once again exposed that people involved with this illicit business keep pumping drugs from Afghanistan into India. Of late, following Taliban take over in Afghanistan, illicit drugs have found India as a major destination. Ever since Taliban took over regime in Afghanistan, Indian security agencies have seized 2,988.21 kg of heroin worth Rs 21,000 crore from two containers at the Mundra port in Kutch district in September, in one of the largest seizure of the contraband in the country.
Also Read: DRI seizes heroin worth Rs 21.90 crore at Hyderabad Airport
It is worth mentioning that Afghanistan is the major opium poppy cultivation country. As of 2021, Afghanistan's harvest produces more than 90 per cent of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95 percent of the European supply. What has further aggrivated the concern of the Indian security agencies is the fact that several Pakistan based terorists organisatios are also involved the the drugs business. "The terrorist organisations supply drugs into India to generate revenue so that they can purchase arms and ammunitions to do subversive activities in India," said a senior intelligence official.
