The Delhi Police’s Special Cell has busted a drug trafficking network involved in smuggling psychotropic substances, the police said on Tuesday.

The Trans Yamuna Range of the Special Cell has arrested three persons in a crackdown and also recovered a total of 4.720 kilograms of fine quality psychotropic substance Alprazolam which is said to be worth Rs 1 crore in the international market, an official said, adding that the recovery was made in coordination with the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Delhi.

The seized drugs were smuggled from Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and were to be further supplied to different parts of the country, the police said.

According to an official, the narcotic substance was allegedly used for spiking the volume and intoxication level of Palm Wine (Tadi).

The smuggled drugs were sent through couriers after concealing the same inside silver polythene and covered from all sides with multiple layers of hard card boxes to avoid detection from X-ray machines at the airports and courier companies.

The police further informed that an illegal manufacturing facility at UP’s Gajraula was also busted and sealed in this connection, from where raw material and equipment used in manufacturing the psychotropic substance was recovered.

The police say the seized raw material and equipment was enough for the production of 700 kg of Alprazolam.

The operation in this case was executed by a team of TYR/Special Cell, led by Inspector Rahul Kumar and Inspector Vineet Kumar Tewatia under the supervision of DCP Amit Kaushik, by initially intercepting a parcel containing 2 Kg of the Psychotropic substance.

Subsequent investigations following the seizure of the substance package led to the successful apprehension of three individuals, including Rachit Kumar, Namit Chaudhary, and Vanga Rajender Goud.

The police said the three persons were the key players in the drug trafficking ring and it was on their instance the factory at Gajroula, Amroha Uttar Pradesh was busted. These individuals have significant ties to interstate drug cartels, indicating the transnational nature of their illicit operations.

Their arrest marks a major breakthrough in the efforts of Special Cell to disrupt and dismantle organized crime syndicates involved in drug trafficking.

The police further informed that during the first week of February 2024, an input regarding an interstate narcotic drug cartel involved in the smuggling of Psychotropic Substances from Uttrakhand or Himachal Pradesh to Delhi and Southern states was received.

The intel was further developed by the team through surveillance and took about 3 months of painstaking efforts to identify members of this cartel and their activities were kept under discreet surveillance.

It was on April 25, a team intercepted a suspicious parcel sent by a member of this cartel at a warehouse of a courier company at IGI Airport Delhi, where a 2 Kg Psychotropic substance packed in 2 packets of silver colour plastic polythenes was found, and this served as a crucial point in unearthing the network.

The police also found that in a bid to avoid detection by law enforcement agencies, the locals near the factory were told that they were manufacturing chemicals for crops.

Further probe is underway in the matter to find out more linkages, the police added.