New Delhi: A conversation between two IDs on an encrypted platform, surveillance of a Delhi-based businessman via CCTV footage and human intelligence, and tracing of Delhi-bound “packages” from Goa—this is how the probe in the over Rs 2,000-crore drug bust case unfolded in the last three months after receipt of an initial input, ThePrint has learnt.
In one of the biggest drug busts on record, the Delhi Police said Wednesday that they had seized 562 kg of high-quality cocaine estimated at more than Rs 2,000 crore from a godown in Mahipalpur Extension. Additionally, a team of the Trans Yamuna unit of the Delhi Police Special Cell also seized around 40 kg of Thai marijuana during the raid late Tuesday.
For months, Special Cell officers waited for solid input on the drugs. According to police sources, the initial estimate was that some 50-60 kg of drugs was headed to Delhi from where distributors would collect the consignment for further distribution, in music concerts.
“We were working on the input received and found a Delhi-based businessman has been working with a Dubai-based handler. The Dubai-based entity arranged for the drugs to reach Indian ports and also provided logistical support. This is a well-oiled syndicate that originated in Panama and travelled through the sea route,” a source told ThePrint.
Four persons, including Tushar Goyal, a South Delhi-based businessman who claims to be former chairman of the RTI cell of Delhi Pradesh Congress, have so far been arrested in the case. Goyal’s two aides (a driver and a bouncer) have also been taken into custody.
ThePrint reached the Delhi Congress for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
On Thursday, a team of the Special Cell reached Amritsar and detained a 45-year-old from the airport. It is learnt that the suspect, believed to be a key member of the racket, was planning to fly to London. “He is an Indian national and has been living in the UK for the last 27 years. He is from Amritsar. His father was in the Indian Navy. His original ticket was for 13 October but he tried to flee after the arrests,” said the source quoted earlier.
“Goyal said it was this person who informed him about the consignment and told him about the places to where it was to be delivered,” the source said, adding that Goyal claims he was offered Rs 3 crore. The suspect, it is learnt, was in direct contact with a Dubai-based handler and was tasked with receiving the consignment in India and overseeing logistics.
From Panama to Delhi via Dubai
While the cultivation of drugs took place in South America, it is suspected that the consignment reached Dubai from a Panama port, and then the shores of Goa around 15 September before it was dispatched to Ghaziabad via the land route. It finally reached Delhi between 20-25 September via National Highway 58, said police sources.
They added that the Dubai-based handler had instructed two other suspects to conduct a recce of routes, after which the consignment was sent as cargo.
Goyal, it is learnt, is a first-time offender and had planned to hand over the drugs to different distributors. “The drugs were to be sent to Odisha, Maharashtra, Gujarat and some other places,” a second source said.
According to the police, the drugs were found in a godown in Mahipalpur Extension that was used to store books since Goyal’s family owns two publications.
For weeks, the investigating team waited for Goyal to make a delivery. And on Tuesday, Goyal, his aides Aurangzeb Siddiqui and Himanshu Kumar stepped out to meet Bharat Jain, a resident of Mumbai’s Kurla West who was here to collect some part of the consignment.
Police are now analysing Goyal’s call records and mapping the exact drug route through CCTV footage. “Goyal is just one of the entities involved in this racket. There are people who provided logistical support for the movement of drugs. All accused are being identified and all details provided by the accused are being verified,” the second source said.
“Per instructions, Goyal leased out a godown in a residential society in Ghaziabad. The cocaine reached that godown in four separate consignments from different cities,” said the second source, adding that the entire consignment was taken to the godown Mahipalpur Extension two days before the raid.
Investigators, sources said, have found that the suspect held from Amritsar told Goyal he was acting on the instructions of a Dubai-based handler. “He told Goyal he would send clients from various cities before the festive season and concerts to collect the cocaine. After this, we got a look out circular (LOC) opened against him,” said the second source.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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