International drugs racket busted; 3, including Nigerian, held

An international drug smuggling racket has been busted with the arrest of three persons, including a Nigerian national, here and 2.1 kg heroin worth Rs 10 crore has been recovered, police said on Saturday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjeev Kumar Yadav identified the accused as Sukhjeevan Singh, 30, Swarn Singh, 33, both residents of Punjab, and Chukwuma Celestine, 32, from Nigeria.

The police officer told IANS that Celestine was out on bail in a drug smuggling case and his original passport was with the court.

Yadav said that Sukhjeevan and Swarn, who were travelling in an auto rickshaw, were arrested from a flyover in Janakpuri area on Tuesday and 1.5 kg heroin was recovered from their possession.

"Swarn Singh jumped off the flyover with the bag containing Heroin as we were to arrest him. He sustained injuries and is currently admitted in the AIIMS Trauma Centre," the DCP said.

According to police, interrogation of the two led to the arrest of Celestine, who supplied them drugs, on Friday evening from Dadri.

Police recovered 650 grams of heroin and 985 grams of Methamphetamine from his possession.

Celestine, who was carrying two fake passports, had contacts in Afghanistan from where drugs were smuggled to India via courier service and through people who swallowed heroin-filled capsules.

Police said Celestine confessed that he used to send consignments of heroin to England, France, Italy, Canada, South Africa and Nigeria via courier service.

Yadav told IANS that Celestine was also arrested earlier for sending drugs through courier service.

The DCP said they had information that peddlers from Punjab were procuring drugs from African nationals in Delhi and the arrest followed a three-month investigation.

The officer said that in the past six months, 75 kg of drugs had been seized by the Delhi Police.

"We are investigating to arrest rest of the accused connected to the gang," Yadav said.

--IANS

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