Record Rs 2,000-cr drug haul by Punjab Police; 5 held

Friday, 13/12/2013

http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=88962&boxid=62918&uid=&dat=2013-12-13

Chandigarh : After busting boxers-drugs nexus, which yielded recovery of over 1 metric-tonne synthetic drugs worth over Rs 1,700 crore, the Punjab Police on Thursday claimed its biggest-ever drug haul with the recovery of synthetic drugs worth over Rs 2,000 crore from five international smugglers, including a Myanmar national.

The major breakthrough was achieved following the arrest of Delhi-based druglord Dev Behl, which led to systematic and meticulous investigations by the state police with the objective of exposing drug networks in a complete and end-to-end manner from source of supply to the distribution network, Additional DGP (Law and Order) Dinkar Gupta said here.

He said that investigation into Delhi-based multi-crore synthetic drug racket had revealed a new trafficking route being used for pumping synthetic drugs into North America through Myanmar and China utilising golden triangle-based links.

Those arrested from New Delhi and Himachal Pradesh, included a Myanmar national Hrang Tin Khara alias Adam Zanniat alias Robert, Suresh Kumar alias Mainga (manager of a HP-based drugs factory), Varinder Singh alias Raja, Rajesh Kumar Bansal, and Ajay Jain, all operating from New Delhi.

Suresh Kumar’s arrest led to a recovery of 50 kg precursor chemicals worth Rs 50 crore from pharmaceutical factory in HP used for manufacture of synthetic drug ICE (M-amphetamine) from precursor chemicals like ephedrine, pseudoephedrine and ketamine.

“We analysed and dissected all available information from the Delhi-based racket and unearthed a new drug trafficking route to North America through Myanmar and China, utilising golden triangle links,” said Gupta.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Raja’s family, including his father, are based in Rangoon (Myanmar) and his wife is a US national. “He was one of the main recipients of consignments of precursor chemicals like ephedrine and pseudoephedrine from Dev Behl. Raja would supply the precursor chemicals to Myanmar national Robert, who has bases in Mizoram and Delhi as well. Robert further supplied the precursor chemical to factories located on the Myanmar-China border,” divulged the ADGP.

Examination of the Bansal’s factory records revealed that over 1,800 kg of precursor chemicals have been shown as sold or consumed in only three months of 2012 as against normal yearly consumption of 300 to 350 kg. “With the help of competent authority in the Health Department, verifications are being conducted regarding diversion of precursor chemicals and its scale of magnitude,” Gupta informed.