New Delhi: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested Jaffer Sadiq, a former Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) functionary and Tamil film producer, from Jaipur for his alleged involvement with a drug nexus that spanned India, Australia and New Zealand.
According to the NCB, Sadiq had been absconding since 15 February.
Sadiq’s arrest comes days after the NCB said it busted an international drug syndicate suspected to have dealt in drugs worth an estimated Rs 2,000 crore.
“Sadiq was running this multi-crore international drug trafficking network. His cartel spread from New Delhi, Tamil Nadu and other places in India to New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia,” NCB Deputy Director General Gyaneshwar Singh said Saturday.
Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Singh added that “the accused (Sadiq) earned a lot through drug trafficking and invested in multiple industries, such as film, construction, hospitality, etc., and was using it as a cover business”.
Sources in the agency said Sadiq, who is believed to have produced four Tamil films, is the “mastermind” of this syndicate that smuggled pseudoephedrine from India to Australia and New Zealand. The agency is now trying to ascertain the source of the drug.
“There are more suspects. During interrogation, Sadiq revealed about his other associates in India. There are others involved in this racket too in Australia and New Zealand. We are probing if the pseudoephedrine was smuggled into the country from somewhere or was being manufactured here. In a controlled manner, pseudoephedrine is produced. The accused could have also got it from here,” a source in the NCB told ThePrint.
Pseudoephedrine is used to make methamphetamine or meth, a psychostimulant which sells for approximately Rs 1.5 crore per kg in Australia and New Zealand. The effect of meth — a stimulant drug, unlike heroin, a depressant — lasts for more than 12 hours.
Jaffer Sadiq, the man suspected to be at the centre of this international drug syndicate, entered politics in 2010 and has served as the Chennai West deputy organiser of the DMK’s NRI wing. He was expelled from the DMK on 25 February, soon after his name cropped up in connection with the case.
His alleged involvement with the drug syndicate set off a political slugfest, with the Leader of the Opposition and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) attacking the DMK saying that Tamil Nadu had turned into a “drug den” under the leadership of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
“We have learnt that 26 cases were registered against Jaffer. A man with such a background is meeting the chief minister, getting gifts from the DGP. How could this happen? This is saddening and should be condemned. All those involved in this network should be questioned. As the head of the state, Chief Minister Stalin has the responsibility to explain about this incident to the people,” EPS said Friday.
Tamil Nadu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president K. Annamalai too targeted the DMK government for its association with Sadiq.
How NCB blew lid off nexus
Last year, the NCB had received inputs from customs authorities in New Zealand and police in Australia suggesting that large quantities of pseudoephedrine concealed in desiccated coconut powder were being sent to both countries from India. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) also hinted that these consignments were being sent from Delhi.
For four months after having received the intel, joint teams of the Delhi Police Special Cell and NCB worked on tracking the routes of this cartel, and on 15 February, raided a godown in Basai Darapur in west Delhi. The godown belonged to a firm named Aventa.
The teams seized 50 kg of pseudoephedrine concealed in a consignment of multigrain food mix.
“During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had sent a total of 45 consignments over the past three years, containing approximately 3,500 kg of pseudoephedrine valued at over Rs 2,000 crore in the international market,” Gyaneshwar Singh had said at the time.
Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) Shankar Jiwal, however, said Friday that the amount stated by the NCB could be incorrect.
“The market price of pseudoephedrine seized by the NCB is Rs 4,500 to Rs 6,000 per kg. The bureau has said using pseudoephedrine, a drug will be manufactured abroad worth more than Rs 2,000 crore. The chemical should be measured based on its market price and not on that of the manufactured drug. I will not comment on the ongoing investigation, but the amount seems to be incorrect,” DGP Jiwal told reporters.
(Edited by Richa Mishra)