New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) Delhi Police’s Crime branch has busted an international drug syndicate operating in the National Capital Region (NCR) with the arrest of five traffickers, including foreign nationals, and recovery of drugs worth Rs12 crore, police said on Saturday
An official statement said that the Eastern Range-I’s Delhi Crime Branch has busted an international drug trafficking network engaged in the procurement, possession and distribution of commercial quantities of fine quality of heroin and MDMA in the Delhi-NCR region.
The accused, who were arrested in July, have been identified as 52-year-old Moris Okalie and 50-year-old Ibegbu Chigozie Samuel from Nigeria, 38-year-old Emmanuel from Ghana, 28-year-old Sameer alias Nanhe from Delhi’s Nand Nagri area and 36-year-old woman named Lady, a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
According to police officials, the investigation has revealed that the accused were actively involved in the wholesale and retail supply of narcotic drugs and were operating through a network of associates to facilitate the illicit trade.
The team of Inspector Lichhman, comprising Sub-Inspector (SI) Bijender Singh, SI Arvind Kumar, SI Shailender Tiwari, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Joginder, ASI Beepti, Head Constable Surya Prakash, and Head Constable Maha Singh under the close supervision of Delhi Crime Branch Assistant Commissioner of Police (Eastern Range-I) Sunil Srivastava and the overall supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, was working to develop intelligence upon drug traffickers operating in the Delhi-NCR region under the ‘Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan’.
Acting on specific intelligence, the team launched sustained surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations at various locations across Delhi.
During the course of the operation, the team received credible information that Nigerian national Moris Okalie, residing at the national capital’s Chander Vihar in Nilothi area and actively involved in the wholesale and retail trafficking of heroin and MDMA in Delhi and NCR region, would arrive near a hospital in the national capital’s Shahdara region during the intervening night of July 19-20 to deliver a consignment of narcotic drugs.
After complying with all legal formalities, a raiding team was immediately constituted and strategically deployed near the hospital.
Following discreet surveillance, the team identified and apprehended the suspect, who was carrying a black shoulder bag. The suspect disclosed his identity as Moris Okalie.
Police said that a search of his bag led to the recovery of four polythene packets containing suspected narcotic substances.
The total recovery comprised 2.004 kg of heroin and 863 gm of MDMA, both falling under the category of commercial quantity. The recovered contraband, was duly sealed and seized in accordance with the provisions of law.
Subsequently, a case vide FIR dated July 20 under Section 21/22 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, has been registered at Delhi Crime Branch Police Station.
During the course of investigation and pursuant to the police custody remand of accused Moris Okalie, two more accused persons, Ghana national Emmanuel and Nigeria’s Ibegbu Chigozie Samuel, were apprehended from the Chander Vihar area in Delhi’s Nilothi, at the instance of accused Moris Okalie.
Officials recovered 254 grams of fine-quality heroin from the conscious possession and control of accused Ibegbu Chigozie Samuel, while 14 gm of MDMA was recovered from the conscious possession and control of accused Emmanuel.
Upon further investigation, two more co-accused persons, Sameer alias Nanhe and Lady were also arrested.
Accused Sameer alias Nanhe was apprehended from Shalimar Garden in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, and 300 gm of fine-quality heroin was recovered from his conscious possession and control. The accused Lady was subsequently apprehended from Delhi’s Paschim Vihar area.
According to the investigation so far, Indian nationals Sameer alias Nanhe and Lady were active members of an organised narcotics trafficking syndicate operating in the Delhi–NCR region and were involved in the procurement, storage, transportation and distribution of heroin and MDMA.
Further verification revealed that accused Sameer alias Nanhe was previously involved in two separate cases of Delhi Excise Act and the NDPS Act, with FIRs lodged at the capital’s Nand Nagri Police Station and Bindapur Police Station respectively.
Similarly, accused Lady was also found to have an FIR under NDPS Act registered against her.
Further investigation is in progress to identify the remaining members of the syndicate, trace the source and destination of the contraband, and dismantle the entire drug trafficking network.
In all, 2.554 kg of heroin, 881 gm of MDMA and 11 mobile phones were recovered from the accused during the raid.
The estimated international market value of the recovered drugs is around Rs 12 crore.
–IANS
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