Delhi Police Special Cell nail down underpinnings from Kandahar in an heroin peddling racket, arrest five
New Delhi, May 13
Delhi Police Special Cell arrested five of an international drug peddling racket in a huge heroin seizure nailing down underpinnings from Kandahar in Kashmir.
The accused have been identified as Altaf alias Mehrajuddin Darji, Abid Hussain Sultan, Hashmat Mohammadi, Tifal Nau Khez alias Tifley and Abdullah Najibullah alias Nabi. A narcotic reconstitution factory set up by the cartel in the area of Batla House has also been unearthed.
Altaf alias Mehrajuddin Darji is a resident of Zakir Nagar, Okhla and permanent resident of Bemina Gosiya Colony Srinagar, Kashmir.
DCP (Special Cell) Pramod Kushwaha stated that during one of the special operations on narco peddlers, a name Altaf alias Mehrajuddin Darji figured as being a senior conduit of a Kashmir based narco-module who was frequently visiting Delhi NCR under the cover of carpet trade. The special cell led an operation to nail down Altaf and his cartel.
The agency received specific intel that Altaf was somewhere in the area of Ashoka Road, Delhi, seeking to deliver a consignment.A trap was laid where Altaf was arrested and four kilograms of heroin was seized from him.
During further investigation, based upon disclosures made by Altaf, a raid was conducted and second accused Abid Hussain Sultan was arrested and a total of 12 kgs of contraband was recovered from his home situated in Vinoba Puri. Abid is a permanent resident of Rainawari, Saida Kadal, Srinagar, Kashmir.
The officials stated that with two initial accused, both of whom are permanent residents of Srinagar, Kashmir, in the net, the ambit of investigation was widened. Sustained confrontations of the arrested accused with evidence at hand led to the findings that there was an entity named ‘Haji’, who was sending the contraband which was being further refined and reconstituted using chemicals being supplied by one ‘Lakha’ of Amritsar, Punjab.
The officials said that the first concrete involvement of Afghani presence in this module surfaced in the name of Hashmat Mohammadi, an Afghan national residing in the area of Zakir Nagar.
The accused Hashmat Mohammadi from Qala-e-Fathullah, Kabul, Afghanistan was arrested while he was driving a Scooty bearing No. DL-3S-E- 5799, which belongs to arrested accused Abid. On checking the glove-box/dickey of the said two wheeler, another five kgs of contraband was recovered. Accused Hashmat was accordingly arrested in the case.
The interrogation of Hashmat revealed that the contraband was being sourced from one Kasim, Hashmat’s brother and one Haji. Both Kasim and Haji are based in Afghanistan. Hashmat also disclosed that a reconstitution factory, similar to the one busted in 2019 by Special Cell, was running in Zakir Nagar, Delhi.
Taking the investigation further, a raid was conducted at a house situated in F-Block, Batla House, Okhla, Delhi and a clandestine facility, being run in under a residential cover, was unearthed. A total of 29.5 kgs contraband along with articles used for reconstitution i.e. big aluminum containers, buckets, gunny bags soaked in chemical, distillers etc. were recovered.
Upon tracing the chain of possession of the said residential premises, it was established that this address belongs to none else but Tifal Nau Khez who was then in jail for being the mastermind behind one of the biggest haul of heroin. In this case, a total of 330 kgs of Afghan origin heroin had been seized.
He was subsequently arrested and he revealed that of late, several new poppy to heroin processing modules have become highly active in Afghanistan and are sending seasoned chemical experts under the garb of medical and other VISA facilities to India to execute complex heroin reconstitution operations at scattered locations within Delhi NCR.
The margins of profit being huge, he used his earlier and newer contacts made while in jail to resume his earlier illicit trade. Coming to learn and map various new hot-spots of the trade in Delhi, another raid was conducted in the area of Wazirabad and the fifth accused of this case Abdullah Najibullah who is a permanent resident of Kapisa, Akakhel, Afghanistan was arrested and further 3.2 Kgs of contraband material was recovered from him. With this arrest, the total recovery of contraband, fine quality heroin in the operation presently stands at 54.2 Kgs.
According to the special cell, several African and European, especially Italian nodes of this narco-peddling network have surfaced. Efforts are being made to establish the true identities of Afghan based Kasim and Haji, who appear to be the major source of heroin which is then peddled through gunny sacks with absorbed heroin for further extraction and reconstitution in India.
The agency said that involvement of Kashmir valley based operatives in the network and sourcing of industry grade chemicals used for reconstitution from yet unidentified Punjab based operatives gives this module a significant importance that adds to our conventional understanding of the Golden Crescent, known as world’s leading poppy/opium/heroin production areas.
The substratum of adversary sponsored narco-terrorism is also being closely studied by developing the linkages of the unearthed network, officials added.
The special cell is further investigating the case.
