Gmail from Pakistan: How Delhi Police cracked the Rs 15,000 crore cocaine mystery

In one of Delhi Police’s biggest-ever drug investigations, a chargesheet filed by the Special Cell has revealed that the international drug cartel behind the ₹15,000 crore cocaine haul in 2023 had links to Pakistan. Investigators found that one of the key email IDs used to operate the network was created and accessed from Pakistan, a TOI report stated.

Drug cartel masked as pharma firm

According to the chargesheet, the accused traffickers — Tarandeep Singh Rana alias Sandeep Dhunay and his partner Virender Baisoya — had registered a fake pharmaceutical firm named Pharma Solution Services to carry out their drug operations. This was done to project a legitimate business front while transporting illegal substances like cocaine and mephedrone.

The website and email ID of the firm were removed soon after the racket was exposed in October 2023. Police traced an alternate email ID, saadtricky@gmail.com, linked to the operations and sought details from Google. “Google replied that the email ID was created in Pakistan on April 2, 2024,” the chargesheet said.

Email activity traced to Pakistan cities

Login details accessed by the police showed the email was frequently accessed from different locations in Pakistan, including Lahore (September 6 and 12), Mianwali (between May 28 and June 4), and Sialkot (April 2–3 and May 21). It was also accessed from Malaysia. The investigators have sent a judicial request to Malaysian authorities for more details.

Rana, Baisoya fled India and created more shell firms

Rana and Baisoya fled India in 2024 following a case registered in Pune. They are suspected to be living between Malaysia and the UK. From abroad, they directed an aide named Kishan Munde to register Pharma Solution Services in the name of Dnyaneshwar Khillare, a hotel worker. Khillare gave his ATM card, signed cheques, and mobile number linked to the bank account to Rana’s associate.

More front companies were created later, including RM Biochem and Life Saver Pharma, in the names of Altaf Ramzan Vilas and Rehman Sameer Sheikh.

Alias used to hire staff and secure deals

“Rana used three aliases — Sandeep Dhunay, John Smith and Bhai Ram,” a source said. Under the alias John Smith, he hired employees and presented himself as a director of the firms.

The cartel approached several pharmaceutical companies to produce chemicals by disguising banned substances as raw material. In one case, they approached a Gujarat-based firm for the manufacture of a chemical they called GR-25, claiming it was phenylephrine hydrochloride.

“However, the director of this firm was cautious and had the coded chemicals tested. The test revealed that GR-25 was actually 4-methylpropiophenone. The final product prepared from the raw materials provided by Life Saver Pharma would have been mephedrone, a substance banned under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. Upon discovering this, the firm owner cancelled the agreement with the cartel company,” said a senior officer.

Major breakthrough after intelligence alert

The cartel was busted after a central intelligence agency alerted Delhi Police’s Special Cell in August 2023. After two months of surveillance and probe, police recovered 1,289 kg of cocaine in a series of raids.

Tushar Goyal, who allegedly had links to a political party, was arrested along with 13 others. Rana and Baisoya remain on the run. Look-out circulars have been issued for both.