Two Afghans arrested in Delhi with heroin worth Rs 1,200 crore

In one of the largest seizures of methamphetamine drugs in the country’s history, the Delhi police special cell arrested two Afghan Nationals and recovered 312.5 kg methamphetamine and 10 kg high purity heroin worth ₹ 1200 crores.

The accused were apprehended from Meethapur Road, near Kalindi Kunj Metro Station in New Delhi.

Mustafa Stanikza (age 23 years) and Rahimullah Rahim (age 44 years) who were living in India since 2016 were apprehended after Delhi police got information about a huge consignment of a known drug lord operating from overseas that would be transiting Delhi.

“A team led by ACPs Lalit Mohan Negi and Hridaya Bhushan has busted a transnational synthetic drug cartel with the arrest of two Afghan nationals. With the arrests, the highest ever seizure of high-quality party drug Methamphetamine, totalling 312.5 Kgs have been made apart from 10 Kgs of Afghan-origin Heroin,” said Hargobinder Singh Dhaliwal, Special Commissioner of Police, Special cell, Delhi police.

Mr Dhaliwal further said, “In 2020, a EU4Monitoring Drugs (EU4MD) project report had highlighted that there was a growing realization among those involved in the Afghan drug trade that the ephedra plants growing wild in the central highlands of Afghanistan for hundreds of years were a potential source of ephedrine for methamphetamine manufacture. The persistent focus on intelligence Based Operations y the team also provided credible inputs that over the past few years; Meth was gradually replacing Heroin as the preferred financing option for terror operations.”

In order to thoroughly investigate the emerging use of Meth as the fulcrum of evolving Narco-Terror matrix, an FIR was registered under the relevant sections of the UAPA Act and an investigation was taken up.

Mr Dhaliwal said, “Information was received that Afghan-based Nationals will be travelling in Skoda Superb car and were expected to carry contraband with them. Since the information pointed towards a bigger consignment that was being shepherded by the apprehended duo, quick, intense interrogation at the spot was carried out. This succeeded in extracting information regarding a white colour Mahindra Pickup which was trailing the two apprehended Afghans. After some time, the said vehicle was intercepted near SDMC Toll, Kalindi Kunj, Delhi. During the search of onboard 16 bags, white crystalline material was found. This suspect chemical was checked using the narcotic field testing kit which revealed that nine out of the 16 bags were containing contraband Methamphetamine.”