Delhi Police's special cell has arrested five members of an international drug syndicate, including an NRI, for allegedly smuggling "party drugs" and contraband worth more than Rs 90 crore has been seized, police said Wednesday.
The accused have been identified as Sunil Kumar (33), Lokesh Mehta (25), Satish Sahu (45), Neeraj Arora (43) and Rajesh Dutta, a British citizen (45), they added.
Party drugs worth more than Rs 90 crore in the international market including 13.5 lakh tablets of drugs, 10.2 kg of tramadol powder and 500 gm of ketamine have been recovered, officials said.
According to police, the accused collected drug tablets and other contraband from Mumbai and Delhi and exported them to London in UK, Nepal and Malaysia.
The kingpins of the gang are Mazhar, a Pakistan national, and Amarjeet Bains both based in London, UK and Jaspreet Singh Dhillon based in Nepal, they said.
Technical surveillance revealed that Kumar and Mehta had procured a large consignment of drugs and their counterpart in Mumbai identified as Sahu had come to Delhi to collect the load for exporting them, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.
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Kumar and Mehta used to pack and store the contraband, he said.
"After we received input that a drug consignment would be handed over to one of the gang members on the intervening night of January 15 and 16 near Bharati College in Janakpuri, a trap was laid at the spot," he added.
Subsequently, Kumar and Mehta were apprehended and 5.275 kg of party drug tramadol powder was recovered from their possession, the officer said.
The arrested helped the police recover huge quantity of the party drug from a godown at Hari Nagar, he said.
On January 17, Sahu was arrested and 5.1 kg of tramadol powder, known as 'meow meow' was recovered from his possession. Upon interrogation, two more accused Arora and Dutta were arrested on January 20 and 480 gm of Ketamine drug was recovered from their possession, the DCP said.
Investigation revealed that Dutta is an associate of international bucksman Sandeep Singh Gill and a Look Out Circular was opened against him by the British government authorities in connection with a two million pound money laundering case, he said.
"Arora and Dutta used to prepare the drugs at the former's house. A drug manufacturing-cum-synthesising setup was seized from Arora's house in old Rajender Nagar area. Raw materials used for the same were also recovered," he added.
Police also conducted a raid at Dutta's godown in Vikar Nagar following which 7.945 lakh tablets of party drugs, concealed in rice drums were recovered, Yadav said.
"The recovered consignment was supposed to be smuggled to Europe via Sri Lanka and other routes. These tablets were procured by Dutta and Arora from Ashwani Rattan, who presently resides in UK," he said.
The accused persons used to supply illegal drugs to each other as per their requirement for supplying abroad and other parts of India, he added.
Kumar and Mehta, both are partners in the dealing of narcotics and psychotropic drugs in tablets and powdered form, officials said, adding they procured contraband from various sources, including Sahu.
During sustained interrogation, it was revealed that Kumar and Mehta used to supply narcotics and psychotropic tablets and powder to one Mazhar, a Pakistan national based in UK, through cargo and courier, as per demand, the DCP said.
Sahu also used to supply the contraband drugs to Jaspreet Singh Dhillon, who owns night clubs in Nepal and Malaysia for which he places huge orders for these drugs, he added.