NCB 'unearths' global drug syndicate operating from Ludhiana

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Monday claimed to have unearthed an international drug syndicate operating from Ludhiana and arrested 16 people, including two Afghan nationals.

The agency said that it has identified 30 properties of drug smugglers and the cartel it busted in November in a three-month joint operation with the Punjab police was running night clubs in Chandigarh.

Addressing a press conference, NCB deputy director general Gyaneshwar Singh said the cartel had foreigners as its members and was running various front businesses, including liquor vends, ghee manufacturing units and rice mills. The NCB official said in Mohali that action against the syndicate began on November 15, with the seizure of contraband and a person's arrest.


"A special investigation team under Amanjit Singh, zonal director, NCB Chandigarh, has been formed and includes officers from various NCB zones, as this international drug syndicate is spread across countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. and states in India," Singh added.

Specialised financial investigation and technical investigation teams have been formed and more than 60 bank accounts relating to this group have been "debit freezed" and freezing orders under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act are under consideration, he said. In November, NCB seized 20.36 kg of heroin and arrested Sandeep Singh from Ludhiana.

According to NCB, Singh is one of the close associates of Akshay Kumar Chhabra, the arrested kingpin of this drug syndicate who allegedly had links in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Chhabra's primary modus operandi was to import heroin/morphine from Afghanistan through cargo routes and manufacture more heroin in Ludhiana itself.

The arrested Afghan nationals have been identified as Qari Hamidullah Yusufi and Hakim Salimi, a chemist and associate of Yusufi. The duo was allegedly involved in processing and manufacturing heroin in Punjab, New Delhi and western Uttar Pradesh.