Kingpin of interstate drug cartel in Delhi Police net

NEW DELHI: The kingpin of an interstate drug cartel has been nabbed by Special Cell of Delhi Police. The man, Refauqat, is a transporter and had modified his trucks, which had all-India permits, with cavities to carry large amounts of drugs.

Several members of his cartel, who had been arrested in the past few months, led cops to Refauqat. A reward of Rs 1 lakh was declared for his arrest.

DCP (special cell) Sanjeev Yadav said that a team tracked down Refauqat at Bareilly where he had been hiding for the past few months. “In October, we had arrested his gang members who revealed his locations and modus operandi. Police teams tried to track him down in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, but he kept changing his location. He was finally nabbed on a tip-off,” he added.

During interrogation, Refauqat revealed how he used to transport contraband hidden in a secret cavity near the tool box of the trucks used for transported goods from West Bengal to the rest of the country.

After the arrest of his gang members, he kept changing his location to avoid being tracked down. He used to run an embroidery business with his family, but later started the transport business. He then came in contact with one Najiul Haque, a resident of Malda, who used to smuggle drugs stuffed in used tyres.

“Refauqat was impressed by Haque’s earnings and lifestyle and joined his business of smuggling heroin. Later, they parted ways and Refauqat formed his own cartel,” Yadav said. He would lure drivers and helpers to smuggle the contraband for huge sums of money. They would be handed a key to the cavity’s lock and paid once it was handed over to Refauqat’s counterpart in Malda.

The man in Malda would replace the drugs in the cavity with money. The driver would return to Bareilly and hand over the key to Refauqat. If he had to deliver the consignment to someone else, he would provide the address and contact number to the driver directly.