Two woman among 9 held, police busts interstate heroin syndicate; drugs worth Rs 16 cr seized

The Delhi Police has busted an interstate narcotics syndicate, arresting nine people and seizing heroin and crude opium worth around Rs 16 crore, an official said on Friday.

Police said a Rohini team unearthed a drug supply network operating between Manipur and Delhi-NCR while probing a case registered at Budh Vihar police station under the NDPS Act.

According to police, 1,568 grams of heroin and 506 grams of crude opium, capable of producing around 1.5 to 2 kilograms of heroin, were recovered during the operation.

A bike and a car allegedly used for transporting narcotics were also seized.

''The probe began after the arrest of Sameer Ahmed, 21, and Ashish Soni, 29, on April 17, with 300 grams of heroin. A team later arrested Manoj Soni alias Vicky, identified as the source supplier to the duo,'' Joint Commissioner of Police (Northern Range) Vijay Singh said.

During interrogation, Soni shared details about other members of the supply chain, following which police raided Tilak Nagar on April 21 and arrested Sandhya (30) with around 278 grams of heroin.

Police said Sandhya was allegedly part of a family-based drug trafficking syndicate. Her husband, identified as Vicky alias Aakash, is currently lodged in jail in an NDPS case and has previous criminal involvement, while her mother-in-law is also in jail in a narcotics case, police said.

''Further investigation led police teams to Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, where Mehnaz alias Bezi (51), was arrested on May 7 with 58 grams of heroin. She was allegedly an active supplier in the Bareilly region and had previous involvement in two NDPS cases,'' the officer said.

At Mehnaz's instance, police arrested Yunus from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh on May 12 and recovered 578 grams of heroin from him. Yunus, who also has two previous NDPS cases against him, was described by police as a major interstate heroin supplier and a crucial link in the syndicate.

''Yunus disclosed that he procured crude opium from Manipur and refined it at his residence to prepare heroin for supply in Delhi-NCR. Based on his disclosure, a police team travelled to Imphal on May 20 and conducted raids in several areas of Manipur to identify the source suppliers. During surveillance, two accused -- Mohammad Istafam (28) and Phundreimayum Amjad Ali (34) -- were apprehended while allegedly delivering crude opium in a Bolero vehicle,'' he said.

Police said 506 grams of crude opium were recovered from a hidden cavity inside the gearbox of the vehicle. The substance was identified as raw latex extracted from the opium poppy and commonly used in the preparation of heroin. Earlier, another accused, Sabbir, a resident of Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on May 17 with 300 grams of heroin. Police said he was an active member of the interstate supplier syndicate.

Police said the arrests helped them expose the linkage of the narcotics network and uncover an important interstate supply chain operating from Manipur to Delhi through Uttar Pradesh.

Further investigation is underway to identify other associates and financial links connected to the racket.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)