BUSTED: The four drug peddlers who were nabbed in an operation by the Delhi police in New Delhi on Sunday. . Photo: SHANKER CHAKRAVARTY

NEW DELHI: An international drug syndicate, with the United States and Canada as destination points, has been busted by the Delhi Police with the arrest of four persons, including a Canadian national of Indian origin.

The police seized 100 kg of ephedrine, valued at about Rs. 100 crore.

It is used in manufacturing party drugs.

About two months ago, Head Constable Balbir Singh was tipped off about the syndicate. He learnt that a car from Punjab and a pick-up truck bearing Haryana number were ferrying a huge drug consignment and they would pass by Dhaula Kuan on August 15. The police intercepted the vehicles and recovered three kg of charas, besides ephedrine concealed in paintings. They were meant to be couriered to one Robins of Universal Lighting at Ontario in Canada.

During interrogation, the car driver identified himself as Gurdish Singh Toor and claimed that he was an American citizen based in California. But, the police found that he was from Surrey B.C. in Canada.

At his instance, the police arrested his accomplices, Amit Aggarwal, Paramjeet Singh and Kailash Chand Jindal during a five-day-long operation.

It turned out that Gurdish, Paramjeet and their accomplice Gurdit, a resident of Ludhiana, had got the consignment packed through Amit and were about to despatch it through DHL International Courier.

The Foreigners Regional Registration Office records revealed that Gurdish came to India on August 29, 2004, on a six-month visa but never returned. He established a network in Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab, Hyderabad and Chennai to smuggle out the controlled substance to Canada and the United States.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West Delhi) Ravindra Yadav said: "About two-and-half years ago, Gurdish met two Canadians, Pithar and Cliff, and two Chow brothers from China, with whom he set up the cartel and came here to develop links with the suppliers. He used to procure charas from Gurdit and ephedrine from Amit and one Amarjeet," he said.

Eight mobile connections

From the money, Gurdish purchased a Scorpio jeep, a Toyota Corolla, a Honda CRV and Honda City cars in others' name.

He procured the import-export licence from the Ludhiana office of the Directorate of Foreign Trade of the Union Ministry of Commerce under the name Simran Rice and General Mills Limited purportedly owned by Surjeet Singh. He used eight mobile phone connections to evade detection.

Gurdish owns a flat at Juhu in Mumbai where he has a full-fledged laboratory, said Mr. Yadav.

His accomplice Amit runs a laboratory at Najafgarh in South Delhi that manufactured ayurvedic and unani medicines. He allegedly procured ephedrine from Mumbai and Indore. He had contacts in Afghanistan and CIS countries where he allegedly supplied drugs.

Paramjeet, a director of a Ludhiana firm, allegedly took care of the financial transactions of the syndicate. Kailash owned a newspaper agency in Indore and also ran a pharmaceutical unit.

"Raids are being carried out at various places to nab other members of the syndicate," Mr. Yadav said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail