Drug cartel busted, two held

New Delhi: Two foreign nationals suspected to be members of an International drug cartel were arrested with heroin worth Rs 32 crores, police said on Friday. 

The accused have been identified as Asadullah (27), an Afghan national and Moussa Zie (30), an Ivory Coast national, they added. 

The accused used to supply heroin to their clients in the National Capital Region (NCR) and other states across north India. 

On January 8, police learnt that Asadullah would deliver a big consignment to one of his contacts near Geetanjali Bus Stop in Malviya Nagar area, subsequently, a trap was laid at around 1.00 pm, the Afghan national was spotted coming from Malviya Nagar Metro Station. 

When Asadullah was leaving the spot, he was surrounded and overpowered by the police team, Deputy Commissioner of Police (special cell) P S Kushwah said. 

Six kgs of high-quality heroin was recovered from him. On his insistence, Zie was nabbed on January 9 from near Max Hospital and two kgs of heroin was seized, the DCP said. 

Investigations revealed that Asadullah used to deliver heroin in Delhi from Afghanistan and handed over the consignment to several African nationals, one of whom is Moussa Zie. 

His fellow Afghan nationals carried heroin capsules in their stomach and sometimes in secret cavities of their bags in aeroplanes as per directions of the Afghan-based kingpin of the alleged cartel, the DCP said. 

He procured the last consignment from Afghan carriers about a week ago. He said that he brought two such consignments in his stomach. He has also revealed that he has been visiting India frequently on a medical visa for purpose of smuggling of heroin, the officer said. 

Zie arrived in India in July 2017 on a tourist visa for a period of six months but did not return even after the expiry of visa. He was lured by a Nigerian national for smuggling heroin and he acted as a carrier of heroin for him for six months, Kushwah said. 

Later, Zie developed his own network and since then he had been smuggling heroin independently. He used to get a supply of heroin from Afghan nationals including Asadullah, he added. 

He also revealed that he had supplied the contraband to other countries, including Canada, England, France, South Africa through courier companies, the officer said.

The members of the alleged cartel have already supplied more than 100 kgs heroin in Delhi during the last one year, police said.