A Chennai resident was arrested for trying to ship 10.24 kg cocaine worth Rs 100 crore in the international market, to Sydney in Australia through a courier company in Phase-2, Industrial Area, on Thursday. The consignment was concealed in wooden trays along with crockery items. It is one of the largest seizures of cocaine in this region in the recent past.
The man was identified as S Ashfaq Rehman, 36, a resident of Chennai. He had stashed the drug in 10 wooden trays that he was shipping to one Sydney-based Tommy Shah along with some crockery.
Sources said the chance recovery took place due to the alertness of the courier company employees, who become suspicious of the crockery items when the suspect Rehman started raising objections to the scrutiny of his parcels. Rehman’s initial interrogation revealed that he had come to Chandigarh by air from Chennai last week and was staying at a hotel in Sector 26. Today he picked up the consignment packed in two crockery boxes from the Chandigarh railway station where it had come from Chennai, and brought it to Excel Worldwide Pvt Ltd, a courier company in Phase-2, Industrial Area.
An executive director of the courier company requesting anonymity said, “Around 12 noon, a man in an autorickshaw came to our courier company. He was carrying two boxes of crockery items. As per the procedure, we started sanitizing all the packets. We also check the parcels as per the training given to us from time to time by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). We found that the wooden trays were hollow. It appeared there was something hidden under the trays. Our employee scratched a trays and a blackish power started trickling out. The man, later identified as A Ashfaq Rehman, got angry. Subsequently, he fled our premises. We gave him a chase and managed to nab him. We also called the local police and a central narcotics agency officials.”
Police sources said the accused was trying tried to send the parcel using the identity card of one Amarjeet Singh. Later, the police found that it had been stolen from Singh a few days back.
Chandigarh police personnel reached the spot followed by personnel of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Chandigarh zone. SSP Kuldeep Singh Chahal later told media persons that Chennai police was intimated about the seizure and arrest of their resident. SHO PS 31, Inspector Narinder Patial, said, “The cocaine was packed in over a dozen small packets in different wooden trays. Accused Rehman claimed that he was getting Rs 1 lakh for sending one consignment to Australia. He reportedly confessed to having sent a consignment to Sydney from another Chandigarh-based courier company a few days back also. A matriculate, the accused is fluent in English, Hindi and Tamil. As per his Aadhar card, his identity is appears to be genuine. Apparently, he is a part of an international drug syndicate.”
A case was filed at Sector 31 PS. The accused will be produced in the local court tomorrow. The police are likely to seek his custody for further interrogation.