Rs 5 cr drugs seized, interstate nexus busted

Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has busted a major interstate narcotics network operating between Bareilly and the National Capital Region, arresting two men and recovering nearly half a kilogram of high-grade cocaine valued at around Rs 5 crore in the illegal market.

The seizure was made after the Inter-State Cell of the Crime Branch tracked the movement of a suspected courier and later followed the supply chain to Uttar Pradesh, police said on Sunday. Investigators believe the syndicate had been pushing premium quality cocaine, commonly referred to in the drug circuit as crank, into Delhi and adjoining NCR cities.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Aditya Gautam said the operation had exposed an organised interstate supply module and further raids are underway to identify other handlers and receivers linked to the network. “This is not an isolated recovery. The interrogation and subsequent arrests point to a wider chain involved in the procurement and delivery of high-quality narcotics. We are now working to trace the remaining members,” Gautam said.

Police said the first breakthrough came on April 10 when a Crime Branch team, acting on specific intelligence, laid a trap near Gazipur Roundabout in east Delhi. A suspected carrier, identified as 29-year-old Javed Hussain of Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, was intercepted and searched.

From his possession, officers recovered 456 grams of fine-quality cocaine. The quantity and purity of the recovered contraband immediately suggested that it was not meant for local peddling but for a higher-value urban distribution circuit. An FIR under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act was registered at the Crime Branch police station, and Javed was taken into custody for sustained interrogation.

According to investigators, Javed initially gave evasive replies but eventually disclosed that the consignment had been sourced from one Soib Khan, a resident of Bareilly. Based on this disclosure, police obtained his custody remand and began preparing for a follow-up raid outside Delhi.

On April 22, a Crime Branch team, with the assistance of local police in Uttar Pradesh, reached Bareilly and conducted a raid at the identified location. There, the alleged supplier, 25-year-old Soib Khan, was apprehended from his residence and formally arrested in the same case.

Police said the arrest of Soib was crucial because it established that the Delhi courier was not acting independently but was part of a structured interstate trafficking line. Crime Branch officers suspect the syndicate had been using low-profile carriers and labour-class workers to move expensive narcotics quietly into Delhi, where the drug could be sold at several times the procurement value.

Investigators are now examining who financed the consignments, who the intended buyers in Delhi-NCR were, and whether similar deliveries had already taken place in recent months. Police sources said the recovered cocaine was of superior grade, making it attractive to high-paying users and elite party circuits rather than street-level consumers. This has raised the possibility that the racket was supplying to a niche but lucrative clientele.

The two accused come from modest backgrounds. Javed Hussain is illiterate and was working at a jeans factory in northeast Delhi. Soib Khan is also illiterate and, according to police, has no previously reported criminal record. Investigators, however, are probing whether both were recent recruits in a larger syndicate run by more experienced traffickers.

Officials said Soib Khan is currently in police custody on remand and is being questioned intensively to identify the source from which the cocaine was procured before reaching Bareilly.

With the arrests now made in both Delhi and Bareilly, investigators say the case has opened a wider trail into an interstate narcotics corridor that may extend beyond Uttar Pradesh. Further raids are in progress.