Delhi Police busts cross-border narco-terror syndicate, arrest 10 people

New Delhi: The Delhi Police has busted a major cross-border narco-terror syndicate operating between Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, and arrested 10 people including its kingpin, an official said on Saturday.

The arrested accused include the kingpin Shazia Peer and Faheem Farooq, both Srinagar natives living in Delhi. The others were identified as Javed, Parminder Singh, Deol, Salwinder, Varinder, Ravi Sher Singh, Manjinder Singh and Jashanpreet Singh, all natives of Punjab.

The official said five properties worth Rs 10 crore have been identified for further financial probe in the case. Details have been sought from the Financial Intelligence Unit to establish financial links among the drug-peddlers.

A senior police officer said Faheem, who was nabbed on February 9, disclosed that he was an active member of the cartel and named Shazia, leading to her apprehension.

Shazia admitted to being a part of the drug smuggling network with associates in Afghanistan, US, UK and Punjab. She named Sohrab, Hafiz and Deol.

Shazia also revealed that she used to distribute drugs in retail to customers through Javed. On lead from her, Javed was nabbed.

The officer said the recovery of social media chats revealed that Shazia and Faheem infiltrated drugs through Jammu and Kashmir's Kupwara sector by deploying young children as carriers.

On Faheem's disclosure, police traced Parminder Singh. He was arrested by a police team who posed themselves as bank employees looking for property verification in Ludhiana.

Parminder was also found to be in touch with drug traffickers in Pakistan, UK and Afghanistan.

Upon interrogation, Parminder disclosed about a network smuggling drugs from Afghanistan to Pakistan, from there to Punjab and to Jammu and Kashmir and finally to Delhi. Further probe led to the apprehension of more traffickers including Salwinder, Ravi and Varinder linked to Lakhwinder alias Landa, a notorious narco-terror fugitive presently operating from Canada.

"The operation resulted in multiple arrests and seizure of a substantial quantity of narcotics, mobile phones, crucial incriminating evidence and illicit proceeds. All the accused have significant previous criminal involvements and family history of crime," the officer said.

A total of 1,667 grams of Afghan-origin heroin has been recovered after multiple raids across various states. About 130 grams of a chemical substance, suspected to be drugs, has also been seized.

Two motorcycles used in drug supply have been confiscated and 15 mobile phones containing crucial incriminating data related to cross-border syndicates involved in drugs, weapons and explosive substance supplies have been recovered.

While multiple arrests and substantial seizures have been made in the case, the police said the investigation is ongoing to identify and apprehend the remaining associates.