A 46-year-old Nepali national, wanted in a four-year-old drug peddling case and having a "Look Out Notice" against him, has been arrested from IGI airport when he was trying to flee the country, police said today.
Ashok Vishwkarma, a resident of Udaipur district of Nepal's Sagar Matha Anchal, was apprehended with the help of immigration officials at the airport on Friday last when he was trying to flee the country," said Devesh Chandra Srivastava, Addl CP, Central District.
According to police, Vishwkarma was wanted in a case of illegally sending 12.820 kg of charas to Hong Kong through a courier company in June, 2009.
He had introduced himself as Raju, a resident of Dharmshala in Himachal Pradesh, and booked a consignment containing 97 packets to Hong Kong.
While packing the consignment by a staff the courier company, one of the packets fell on the floor and black material having a distinct odour came out of it.
"On suspicion, he immediately informed the police who seized all the 97 packets containing a total of 12.820 Kg of black material suspected to be charas, which was later confirmed by the forensic science laboratory and police tried to locate Vishwkarma with the contact number provided by him to the courier company," the official said.
During the probe, police learnt that he had fled to Nepal and on the basis of the record and CCTV footage from the airport, he was identified as Ashok Vishwkarma.
A "Look Out Notice" was also issued against him.
During interrogation, he confessed having booked the contraband which he had put by concealing the packets behind the cover of books and between the cardboard and the velvet cloth. When he was asked to come to the shop, he got suspicious and fled to Nepal.
In 2010, he came back to India but was arrested by the Delhi's Narcotic Department in another case of drug peddling.
He also said that for last three years, he was in judicial custody with different identity of Dilip Shrestha and was released on February 1 this year, he added.
