Succeeding in cracking the whip on drug racket, Punjab police has busted another Delhi-based multi-crore international synthetic drug racket with the arrest of five Delhi and Himachal Pradesh (HP) based persons.
The unveiling of this Delhi-based international drug racket follows close on the heels of neutralising of the other Delhi-based racket controlled by kingpin Dev Behl. “This important and major breakthrough in drive against drug trafficking follows systematic and meticulous investigations by Punjab Police with the objective of exposure of drug networks in a complete and end-to-end manner from source of supply to the distribution network,” said Additional DGP (law and Order) Dinkar Gupta.
He informed that Punjab Police had started a two-tier interrogation of drug smugglers from October 14 onwards, with the smugglers being questioned firstly by the district police, followed by sustained interrogation by the officials of State Special Operations Cell (SSOC) in Joint Interrogation Centre at Amritsar.
“So far, over 100 smugglers have been interrogated, and interrogations have yielded valuable information about various cogs in different drug networks so as to enable the Punjab Police to smash these drug networks in an end-to-end manner, from source of supply to the distribution network,” added Gupta.
The ADGP said that the focus was not limited to the State, but the networks operating in other parts of the country were also being detected and action being taken. “This racket is the second successive Delhi-based synthetic drug racket busted in a short time by the Punjab Police,” he added. Gupta revealed that investigations into this drug racket have revealed a new trafficking route being used for pumping synthetic drugs into North America through Myanmar and China utilising Golden Triangle-based links.
Punjab Police has made five arrests from New Delhi and HP, including that of a Myanmar national and recovered large quantity of precursor chemicals, and drugs worth over Rs 200 crore in the international market. The arrested persons includes Suresh Kumar alias Mainga — working as manager of a factory in Himachal — arrested from Himachal on December 7, Varinder Singh — based in Rangoon, Myanmar — arrested from New Delhi on December 8, Hrang Tin Khara alias Adam Zanniat alias Robert — New Delhi-resident based in Klimou in Myanmar — arrested from New Delhi on December 10, Rajesh Kumar Bansal — New Delhi-resident — arrested from New Delhi on December 12, and Ajay Jain — New Delhi-resident — arrested from New Delhi on December 12.
ADGP Gupta said that conducting systematic and meticulous investigations, the Punjab Police zeroed in Suresh Kumar and uncovered a pharmaceutical factory in HP being used for manufacture of synthetic drug ICE (M-amphetamine) from precursor chemicals like ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, ketamine etc. Fifty kilos of precursor chemicals worth Rs 50 crore in international market have been seized from Gagret factory on the disclosure of arrested factory manager Suresh Kumar.
“Punjab Police then analysed and dissected all available information on this drug racket and uncovered a new drug trafficking route to North America through Myanmar and China, utilising Golden Triangle links. This is a major breakthrough for Punjab Police,” he added. Gupta informed that the Golden Triangle was one of Asia’s two main opium-producing areas spread at around 3,67,000 square miles that overlaps the mountains of three countries of southeast Asia — Myanmar, laos and Thailand.
“Along with Afghanistan in the Golden Crescent, it has been one of the most extensive opium-producing areas of Asia and of the world since 1920s. Most of world’s heroin came from the Golden Triangle until early 21st century when Afghanistan became world’s largest producer. Myanmar is world’s second largest producer of illicit opium, after Afghanistan and has been a significant cog in the transnational drug trade since WW II,” he added. It has also been revealed in investigations that most of the synthetic drugs being smuggled were targeted for international market in North America, Europe — mainly Canada, US, Australia.