NOIDA: Police said on Wednesday that high-quality meth manufactured in two Greater Noida houses was cleverly stitched into garments and shipped abroad from ports in Mumbai and Kolkata.
The facts emerged after a huge amount of the narcotic substance, 75kg worth around Rs 350 crore, was discovered during two raids in the last fortnight and an efficient narco operation that was both cooking and distributing it was unearthed.
Trails of the shipments were still being investigated by Police sources as they could have been doing it from more ports on the east and west coasts.
The houses in residential neighbourhoods rented by the gang were raided, at first at Theta-2 on May 17 and the next on May 30 at Mitra Enclave in Beta-2. The police raids led to the arrests of 13 suspects, most of them from Nigeria and one from Senegal.
Chidi Ijiagwa, believed to be the operations head, was among those nabbed. The gang would send batches of the drug to Delhi, after cooking the meth in labs set up inside the houses. These were sent either in private cars or through bike taxi riders, police sources said.
The role of an international courier service provider's personnel was being examined by investigators to ascertain if they are helping the gang transport the garments hiding meth to the coastal cities.
"Once the package reached Delhi, the drugs would be hidden in bundles of clothes to send to the ports in Mumbai and Kolkata. From there, it would be shipped out to countries in Europe, Africa and Asia," Noida police commissioner Laxmi Singh said on Wednesday.
Saad Miya Khan, Greater Noida DCP, whose team led the raids, opined that a "large nexus" was facilitating the trade.
"The gang may have paid a huge amount to get the consignments shipped from the ports. The involvement of some officials at ports has also come to light. All the dots are being joined," the DCP said.
The gang was directly selling Meth or Methamphetamine, a stimulant and hallucinogenic, within Delhi-NCR as well.
"The gang would get in touch with consumers on encrypted messaging apps such as Telegram and Viber, and directly give the drugs. We are informing Delhi Police about the same, and the possible involvement of foreigners living in the capital as well," Khan said.
Khan also informed that ephedrine, a stimulant banned in India and which is a key ingredient in the production of meth, was being supplied to the gang by a Sonipat-based chemicals manufacturing factory. The owner of the factory is absconding.
"We are looking at the role of pharmacies that may have supplied other raw materials to cook meth. Apart from that, all the financial transactions related to the suspects and possible links with supply lines are being checked," Khan added.
Police said they have unearthed evidence that two shell companies, one that claimed to be an agricultural fertiliser exports firm and the other for exporting clothes, were being used to route the ill-gotten gains.
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