New Delhi/Bhubaneswar: An interstate drug trafficking syndicate has been busted with the arrest of three people, including the kingpin who used his toy-packing business in Delhi to smuggle the contraband, an official said Thursday.
The syndicate had trafficked more than 5,000 kg of ganja from Odisha to Delhi over the past year, the police claimed.
The police arrested Sonu, 30, a resident of east Delhi’s Khichdipur, Ajeet, 41, of west Delhi’s Jwala Puri, the alleged kingpin, and Rudrapratap Suar alias Pappu, a resident of Odisha, they said.
According to investigators, Ajeet used his toy-packing business in Nihal Vihar as a front for storing and moving the contraband.
The cannabis was concealed in boxes labelled as cashew nuts and transported through courier services.
The crackdown came after a tip-off December 24, last year, when police were alerted that Sonu and Ajeet were likely to receive a consignment of cannabis in the Mangol Puri area of the city, the officer said.
A raiding team was formed, and surveillance was mounted. Around 840 pm, two men arrived separately on scooties and were seen shifting cartons, the police said.
They were apprehended and later identified as Sonu and Ajeet. A search led to the recovery of three cartons containing 15 packets each, which were examined by an FSL team and found to contain 47.34 kg of cannabis.
A case was registered under relevant sections of the NDPS Act, and both were arrested.
During interrogation, Ajeet disclosed that the consignment had been sent by a supplier identified as Pappu Suar from Odisha, he said.
Subsequently, during police remand, Ajeet was taken to Odisha, where officials verified that another consignment of seven boxes had been dispatched to Delhi through a courier service.
Acting on this lead, police conducted a raid at a courier office in Delhi and recovered an additional 118.4 kg of cannabis, taking the total seizure to 165.74 kg, the officials said.
Further investigation led to the arrest of Rudrapratap Suar alias Pappu, the main source of supply in Puri, Odisha, after nearly three weeks of surveillance, and brought to Delhi, they said.
Sonu, employed as a labourer, was allegedly paid Rs 10,000 per consignment to receive deliveries on behalf of Ajeet.
Police said the syndicate had coordinated over 100 such deliveries in the past year. The operation led to the seizure of two mobile phones, two scooties and other incriminating items. Further investigation is underway.
