The Delhi Police on Wednesday busted a drug cartel and arrested four of its gang members, including the nephew of Abu Azmi, a well-known Samajwadi MLA from Mumbai, PTI reported. Abu Aslam Qasim Azmi is believed to be a close aide of the drug cartel’s kingpin, Kailash Rajput, who is settled in Dubai. The accused have been arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, The Times of India reported.
While Abu Aslam was arrested from Mumbai’s Santa Cruz area, the other three were picked up from the Capital. The police also seized about five kg of drugs known as “ice” or MDMA, worth Rs 5 crore.
“The seized drug was to be smuggled to the United States and the United Kingdom in parcels of different clients of a courier company in Delhi,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav said according to Hindustan Times. The courier company was run by one of the arrested accused, Amit Aggarwal.
The Delhi Police special cell had laid a trap to catch the accused on June 4 after receiving a tip-off. On Tuesday morning, the police arrested a delivery boy and found 5 kgs of contraband on him, reported PTI. His employer Aggarwal and manager Chandan Rai were arrested based on his statement. Following their arrests, Abu Aslam was also taken in from Mumbai.
Abu Aslam had opened a restaurant in Goa a few years ago and come in contact with drug peddlers there, eventually getting introduced to Rajput, PTI reported. Three years ago, when Rajput was arrested by the Mumbai police, Abu Aslam had helped him during the trial. Rajput then fled India and started running his network from Dubai.
“Aslam is a key accomplice of kingpin Kailash Rajput and looks after the network in India,” Hindustan Times quoted Yadav as saying.
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