The Hindu : New Delhi News : Afghan heroin reaching drug users world-wide via Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 26, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Afghan heroin reaching drug users world-wide via Delhi

Staff Reporter

Traffickers using various means of transport to smuggle the drug into India for global supply

NEW DELHI: The recent seizures of heroin consignments purportedly procured from Afghanistan by various enforcement agencies here indicate towards an unchecked massive production and smuggling of heroin from the neighbouring country to other parts of the world using Delhi as a major transit point.

A probe into the cases reported this year so far has revealed that drug traffickers are using various means of transportation to smuggle out heroin consignments through the Capital.

In one such case reported this August, the Special Cell of the Delhi police arrested three persons, including a Nigerian and a Afghan national, from whom more than 5 kg of heroin was recovered.

It came to light that the Nigerian national had procured the consignment from an Afghan national, Faridullah, through a resident of Amritsar in Punjab, Devender Singh.

Easy money

During interrogation, Devender allegedly disclosed that in June, he had gone to Peshawar in Pakistan to deal in spices and medicinal herbs, where he met his old partner, Feyaz Ahmed. Feyaz introduced him to Naeem Khan, a drug peddler operating under the garb of a tyre dealer. Naeem took Devender to Jaan Mohammad, a resident of Jalalabad in Afghanistan, who offered him a huge sum for distributing heroin supplied by him.

After Devender returned to India, Naeem sent a parcel containing 5.05 kg of heroin through Faridullah, but the police arrested them along with the Nigerian who had come to buy the consignment. In another case reported this September, three Nigerian nationals were arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here by the Customs Department after nearly 18 kg of heroin was found concealed in their consignment of shoes, purses, books and file covers which they had brought from Kabul. The accused were to board an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Addis Ababa. During interrogation, they alleged disclosed that they had gone to Afghanistan via Pakistan.

In a similar case, a Ghana national was arrested at the airport for allegedly trying to smuggle out a heroin consignment, procured in Afghanistan, to Abidjan in the Ivory Coast.

The seizures made by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in the Capital this year have also indicated to a steep rise in the influx of Afghan heroin. In July, the DRI arrested a Nigerian national on G.T. Karnal Bypass Road after about 20 kg of heroin was found in his possession. The quality of the heroin indicated that it had been produced in Afghanistan. In August, the DRI arrested two residents of Punjab after over 19 kg of heroin was found concealed in a false cavity near the driver's seat of a truck in which they were coming to the Capital.

Porous Indo-Pak border

Investigations into that case suggested that the consignment, which had originated from Afghanistan, had been smuggled into the country through the Indo-Pakistan border via Punjab.

The latest seizure from two Nigerian nationals reveals the same facts.

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