NCB busts Afghan drug ring in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, seizes 50 kg heroin

The Narcotics Control Bureau has seized about 50 kg of 'high-quality' heroin and arrested a man after it conducted raids in the Shaheen Bagh area of Delhi's Jamia Nagar, the federal anti-narcotics agency said on Thursday, claiming to have busted an Indo-Afghan drug-smuggling racket.

NCB deputy director general (operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh said during a press briefing that cash amounting to Rs 30 lakh was also seized after the operation at a residential premises in the south Delhi area on Wednesday.

The drugs were kept in backpacks and jute bags and were wrapped in packets of e-commerce majors, the officer said.

He said this was one of the biggest narcotics seizures in Delhi, that too from a residential area, in the recent past.

Another 47 kg of "suspected" narcotics were also seized from the premises and the NCB has sent it to a laboratory for testing, Singh said.

"It has been revealed that an Indo-Afghan syndicate based in Delhi and the National Capital Region and the neighbouring states is connected with the case. These syndicates have expertise in manufacturing and adulterating heroin locally," he added.

A senior officer said the "kingpin" of the syndicate is based in Dubai and the agency is probing the case further.

The man who was arrested -- an Indian national -- does not stay in the raided apartment at Shaheen Bagh and had taken it on rent, the officer, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

The India-Afghanistan syndicates smuggle goods to India through maritime as well as land-border routes and heroin is smuggled with legitimate goods and cargo, the NCB said.

The contraband is subsequently extracted from these goods by the Indian members of these syndicates with the help of some Afghan nationals, it added.

The agency is carrying out searches to bust the entire network and the traffickers are linked to operatives based in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi, it said.