Their interrogation led the NCB to another parcel containing about 980 gm of heroin.
The Narcotics Control Bureau on Sunday said to have busted an international heroin smuggling module in Delhi with the arrest of seven people, including two foreigners. The bureau said the value of the seized and investigation-linked contraband is around Rs 48 crore in the international market.
Among the arrested are an African man and a woman from Myanmar, the federal anti-narcotics agency said.
The mastermind, coordinating the operations from abroad, was exploiting the international courier route in order to circumvent the current situation of controlled international passenger flights due to the COVID-19 pandemic, said the drugs control bureau.
The operation began early this month when the NCB seized a courier, containing 970 gm of heroin. The bureau then replaced the courier with a dummy parcel to unearth the syndicate, using a controlled delivery mechanism.
"The controlled delivery mechanism empowers NCB to keep the parcel delivery alive, even after seizing the contraband and replacing the same with the dummy parcel," Malhotra said," said the agency's Deputy Director (Operations) K P S Malhotra in a statement.
The parcel led the agency to arrest Indian nationals identified as Wahid, Mohsin, Shahjahan, Hanif and Munnasir from a hotel in the Mahipalpur area of Delhi, Mr Malhotra said.
Their interrogation led the NCB to another parcel containing about 980 gm of heroin.
Further investigation revealed that the parcel was to be handed over to an African national. The man sent a Burmese woman to collect the parcel, who was arrested and disclosed during the interrogation that she used to arrange Indian ids and bank accounts for the syndicate on behalf of the African national.
During digital forensic analysis and foot printing, it was learnt that the syndicate had already trafficked 10 such parcels containing approximately 1 Kg heroin each during the lockdown period, said the NCB officer.
The trails of the said deliveries are under investigation.
Further, two live parcels are also being identified and the same will be seized in near future, said the NCB. The credentials of Burmese national and African national are being verified, it added.
In a separate haul, a huge cache of drugs including hashish, LSD and ganja was seized in a raid conducted today by the Mumbai Zonal Unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau. Rs 1,85,200 and 5,000 Indonesian Rupiyah were also recovered.