Kullu police seize 6.27kg of heroin from African supplier in Delhi

The Himachal Pradesh Police made its biggest seizure of synthetic drugs by recovering 6.27 kg of heroin in Delhi on Wednesday night.

Announcing this at a press conference in Shimla on Thursday, state police chief Sanjay Kundu said that a team of Kullu police arrested a 38-year-old native of the west African country of Ivory Coast after recovering the contraband from him in the national capital.

Kullu superintendent of police Gaurav Singh, who joined the press conference virtually, said that the special investigation unit of the district police zeroed in on the accused after the arrest of two peddlers of African origin on January 30 with 55gm of heroin.

“On tracing their links, the special investigation unit was able to track down the supplier in Delhi and make its highest seizure of 6.27 kg of the synthetic drug,” Singh said, adding that the accused had been brought to Kullu for questioning.

Preliminary investigation showed that the accused was living in Delhi without valid travel documents. A case was registered against him under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act that punishes a person using a forged passport for entering India or illegally staying in the country to a jail term of at least two years.

The drug supplier in Delhi was in touch with heroin peddlers across the country, including those active in Himachal Pradesh.

The Himachal Pradesh Police have so far arrested 23 foreign nationals, including 16 from Africa, for drug smuggling.

Committed to cracking down on drug mafia: DGP

Kundu said that the state police were committed to cracking down on the drug mafia. “It’s a myth that the police catch only small-time peddlers. The Kullu police recovered 123 kg of charas along with two guns in January. That was the biggest drug seizure in the state’s history,” he said.

Additional director general of police, law and order, Ashok Tiwari and ADGP, crime and security, N Venugopal were also present at the press conference.