New Delhi:
The Delhi police on Tuesday arrested a 35-year-old man and recovered 10 kg heroin worth Rs 35 crore from him and claimed to have busted an international drug cartel.
According to police, Mohd Dharick, a resident of Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu, was arrested by a team of Crime Branch from New Delhi Railway Station on December 13 after it received a tip-off about him.
"On questioning, Mohd Dharick revealed that in the last days of November, he, along with Nazir Ali, came to Delhi to do a recce and returned to Tamil Nadu. On December 11, Dharick, Nazir Ali, Mujibur Rahman and Abdul, alias Abbas, came to Delhi from Chennai by air.
"They stayed in a hotel near Nizamuddin arranged by Nazir Ali. On the morning of December 13, on the instructions of Nazir Ali, Dharick went to Paharganj and to Kashmere Gate to receive the consignment," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav.
They took the bag containing heroin from a bearded man near Kashmere Gate Metro Station and returned to Pahar Ganj.
All the four then decided to return to Chennai via New Delhi railway station, he said.
At the railway station, Nazir Ali instructed Dharick to wait at a place with the bag and took Mujibur and Abbas to make arrangements for the journey to Chennai.
"However, before all these persons could reunite, Dharick was nabbed by the police team. Seeing him being caught by the police, the remaining three accomplices fled from the station. 10 kg of heroin was recovered from the bag that Dharick was carrying," Yadav said.
On sustained interrogation, Dharick said the recovered heroin had been transported from Afghanistan to Jammu and Kashmir via Pakistan. This drug was being carried to Chennai from where it was to be transported to Sri Lanka and its final destination was Europe via Dubai (UAE), said Yadav.
On this, a team led by Inspector Akash Rawat raided Karaikudi and Devakuttai (Sivaganga district) and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu with the cooperation of Tamil Nadu Police.
"The other persons have been identified as Nazir Ali of Devakuttai, who is the mastermind, Mujibur Rahman of Coimbatore and Abdul alias Abbas, a relative of Mujibur Rahman.
The trio are on the run and raids are being conducted to trace and apprehend them. The fifth person, who had handed over the bag to Nazir, is yet to be identified," said Yadav.
It transpires that the drug trafficking module is being run by international drug traffickers and has a well- organized network in J&K, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, the Gulf countries and South East Asia, he said.