According to experts in the field, Mumbai is the highest consumer of narcotics among all the metros in the country
According to an observation made by an expert, though drug busts in the capital are more frequent and higher in quantity, Mumbai is the highest consumer of narcotics.
In the second major heroin bust of this year, on Saturday, the Special Cell of the Delhi Police seized almost four kilos of heroin, with an an international market value of Rs. 16 crores, in the capital.
Four persons - two Indians, one Nigerian and one Tanzanian were arrested during the bust. The arrested persons - Surender Singh aka Sonu, 36, Balwinder Singh aka Bindar, 53, Micheal Chinedu Chukwudi, 36 and Catherine Leonard Mrope, 26 have been booked under various sections of the The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Chukuwudi - a Nigerian and Mrope - a Tanzanian (who are also believed to be a couple) have also been booked for illegally staying in the country and being in possession of fake passports (South African) with a fake Indian visa stamps.
According to police, Balwinder was earlier arrested in 2007 and 2015 in separate cases related to the NDPS Act.
"Balwinder and Surender, both residents of Kapurthala in Punjab, were arrested from west Delhi's Rohini Jail area when they arrived there to supply heroin to their contacts," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said.
After their arrest, the duo led the police to one of their suppliers the African nationals Chukuwudi and Mrope. Chukuwadi was arrested from his Sector 38, Gurugram (Haryana) residence where as Mrope was picked up from their Pochanpur residence in West Delhi’s Dwarka area. The police recovered one kilo of heroin from Chukuwadi and two fake passports from Mrope.
Chukuwadi admitted that he first came to the country in 2011 on a medical visa. After the expiry of the visa he obtained a fake passport and visa to overstay here. “Mrope was illegally staying in India for over two years," the DCP said.
Each kilo of Heroin sells at Rs. 4 crore (approximately) in the international market. The total value of Sunday’s seizure was approximately Rs. 16 crore.
According to sources, most of the fine quality of Heroin comes from Afghanistan with Pakistan as a pit stop. However, there are recent cases of this drug coming in from Myanamar (Burma). The drugs mostly enter the country through border areas in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Nagaland.
Police sources attribute a majority of their investigation based on technical intelligence (60-70 per cent), whereas human intelligence - or on the ground intelligence is 20-30 per cent. Officials state that all those arrested on Saturday were part of a larger web that will soon be unraveled.
There are various methods through which the drug is smuggled in the country. The most popular method is through couriers which are difficult to track. The drugs are also peddled in human mules who can swallow almost 500 grams of the substance is a tightly sealed capsule. However, it has been observed that most of the human mules who enter the country are believed to be Afghanis.
Based on the statewise quantity of seizures (only heroin) done by the Narcotics Control Bureau (information supplied by the Minister of Home Affairs- state), Punjab leads the list and Maharastra comes in fourth.
However, though drug busts in the capital are higher, the financial capital of the country leads the metros with the maximum number of users.
Statewise quantity of heroin seized (in kgs) by the Narcotics Control Bureau
State
2014
2015
2016 (Up to June)
Total
Maharashtra
4.8
235.61
3.71
244.12
New Delhi
271.53
98.47
47.9
417.9
Punjab
729.91
601.88
97.78
1,429.47
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