NEW DELHI: Special Cell of Delhi Police has busted an international drug cartel operating across Southeast Asia and the Gulf countries with the arrest of an alleged drug trafficker and recovery of 47kg of heroin and 2kg of cocaine, valued at Rs 150 crore on the international market.
According to police, Autar Singh (48), a resident of Delhi, was arrested yesterday following a tip-off.
Three other members of the gang, A Venugopal Reddy (29), a resident of Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh, Ragmeet Singh (25) and Shurbir Singh (28), both residents of Delhi, were arrested earlier this month and 9kg of heroin, worth Rs 30 crore, recovered from them.
Piecing together the information collected from the above trio and that which was gathered from various other sources, police were able to close in on Autar.
“A trap was laid yesterday near the red light in Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar and Autar was apprehended in the early hours. On a search of his Hyundai Santro car, a total of 32kg of fine-quality heroin and 2kg cocaine was found neatly packed in polythene bags,” said DCP (Special Cell), Sanjeev Kumar Yadav.
Following his arrest, Autar was produced before court and placed in police remand. During interrogation, he disclosed that there was a consignment of 6kg heroin at his residence, Yadav added.
He was then taken to his Tilak Nagar residence where the additional 6kg heroin was recovered. A total drug haul of 49kg has thus so far been recovered during the operation.
The Hyundai car he was driving at the time of his arrest has been confirmed as having been stolen from the Shalimar Bagh area.
Information was received a few months back by police about a drug syndicate operating out of Delhi which was engaged in receipt and onward distribution as well as transnational peddling of high-quality Afghanistan-made heroin, Yadav said.
“It was also learnt that the syndicate was being run by one Ali, based in Kuwait, and one Samiullah, who was based in Afghanistan, and that there were several Pakistani, Indian and Sri Lankan nationals who were engaged in the trade.
“The syndicate was engaged in trans-border smuggling of heroin from Pakistan through the Punjab border into India and in its onward movement to Sri Lanka and other foreign destinations,” Yadav added.
During investigation, it was learnt that several conduits for the cartel hailing from Andhra Pradesh would frequently visit Delhi and meet certain Sikh families who had migrated from Afghanistan over two decades back to settle here.
On December 18, a tip-off was received that Reddy would come to Shankar Road here to collect drugs from the suspected suppliers for the syndicate.
“A trap was laid and Reddy was apprehended and 3kg heroin seized from his possession. By the time he was located, identified and apprehended, the supplier had managed to leave the scene,” said Yadav.
During questioning, Reddy disclosed that he has been into the illegal trade for the last six months along with some associates. Reddy also revealed that during this month alone, he had received two big consignments from a man known to him as ‘Mr Singh’ and another person known to him as ‘Arun’, both residents of Delhi.
Reddy provided inputs about the identities of two persons who were coordinating the trade and living somewhere in the Mahavir Nagar area.
While efforts were on to locate the above duo, a team of Punjab Police on Thursday arrived at the office of the Special Cell and sought assistance to arrest a suspect known to them as Shurbir of Delhi. (AGENCIES)
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