Five arrested; opium worth Rs 20 cr seized

With the arrest of five persons, Delhi Police today claimed to have busted an inter-state narcotics racket and recovered from their possession opium worth around Rs 20 crore in the international market.
This is believed to be the biggest seizure of opium in the history of Delhi Police, DCP (Special Cell) S K Yadav said.
Based on a tip-off, the police laid a trap at north-west Delhi's Mukarba Chowk on Tuesday and arrested a duo and seized 801 kg opium.
They led the police to other members of the gang and another 25 kg of opium was recovered with the arrest of three others. The total recovery is worth around Rs 20 crore in international market, Yadav said.

The racket was headed by Nandram (55), who has been arrested. He has completed MSc in Animal Science and MA in Economics from Rohilkhand University in Uttar Pradesh.
He still could not get a job and started teaching at coaching centres. He later stepped into real estate business and came in contact with the drug dealers of Bareilly, police said.
Lately, the racket had started procuring opium from the north-eastern state of Manipur. While bringing their latest consignment, the group were stopped at multiple checking points but they managed to elude security officials as they hid the opium in a cavity made on the roof of their SUV, police said.

Teams have been sent to Uttar Pradesh to track down other members of the gang, police said.