Noida, Sep 27 (PTI) The Greater Noida police on Tuesday claimed to have unearthed a drugs supply chain in the national capital region and arrested five members of a gang, who also illegally sent Indian mobile SIM cards to China.
Among those arrested are two foreign-origin persons, one of whom is from Nigeria but staying in India without a valid visa while the other is a Tibetan refugee. Both settled in Delhi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Abhishek Verma said.
The arrests were made by officials of the Knowledge Park police station with the support of an anti-auto theft team of the Gautam Buddh Nagar police commissionerate as they probed a tip-off amid a crackdown on illegal drugs, he said. The officer said the substances recovered from the accused include methamphetamine crystal (55 gm worth Rs 20 lakh) and MDMA (40 tablets) category American drugs besides foreign weed (90 gm worth Rs 50,000).
Besides, 279 active and 451 inactive sim cards, all issued on forged documents, were also recovered from the accused, he added.
“Our special operations cell had received an input that some foreigners visiting Greater Noida were engaged in drug trafficking. Investigation was taken up in the matter and five people arrested,” DCP Verma told reporters.
“Among them, one person of Nigerian origin Sixtus Nnaemeka Okuma had been living in India since 2013. The validity of his passport and visa have expired. Two passports have been recovered from him,” he said.
The other four–Tibetan refugee Taklah Nanduk, who lives in Delhi’s Majnu Ka Tila area; Litton Das, Balram and Asim Khan–were engaged in providing mobile phone sim cards to foreigners, including Chinese and African nationals living in India, the IPS officer said.
“They also couriered the sim cards to China. The purpose of sending the sim cards to China is under investigation. A total of 728 sim cards have been recovered of which around 300-400 are active and fraudulently registered on names of other people. Each sim card was being sold by them for Rs 1,600 to Rs 1,700,” DCP Verma said.
He said the narcotics bureau is being informed about the recovery of the drugs and the bank accounts of the arrestees would be checked as part of further investigation in the case.
On the involvement of the Nigerian national, he said police will be writing to the Bureau of Immigration to apprise it of the episode and for further legal action.
Meanwhile, the DCP announced a Rs 20,000 reward for the police teams involved in arresting the accused and busting the racket, according to an official statement. PTI KIS RDK RDK
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