The group has been smuggling heroin from Ranchi to North Indian states via buses, trains or cars, it was revealed during questioning. (Representative image)The Ghaziabad police have arrested five people, including a woman, for allegedly smuggling heroin worth approximately Rs 1 crore from Jharkhand to other states, officials said Sunday.
According to Crime Branch officials, the accused have been identified as Shyam Bihari and Gavendra from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, Vinod Kumar Gupta from Jharkhand’s Latehar district resident, Devendra, who belongs to UP’s Badaun, and a woman. Around five kg of heroin was recovered from the accused along with a Maruti Eeco car that they were travelling in, they added.
The accused were arrested from Diamond Flyover which falls under the jurisdiction of Kavinagar police station under relevant provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, said the Station House Officer (SHO) of Kavinagar.
They were apprehended by the Crime Branch based on manual inputs, said Nipun Agarwal, Additional Superintendent of Police City-1 (Ghaziabad).
“Our investigation has revealed that one of the accused Vinod Kumar Gupta, a resident of Latehar in Jharkhand, is a courier who along with his sister tried to smuggle drugs via train to curb any suspicions about drug smuggling. Additionally, we have also apprehended Shyam Bihari from Bareilly, who had placed the order and would, in turn, sell the said drugs to buyers in Delhi, Uttarakhand, Haryana, and Punjab for Rs 1 lakh per kg,” said Agarwal.
“During questioning, it was revealed that Shyam Bihari would place his order through another person named Dablu, who is a resident of Ranchi. Bihari would transfer the money online to Dablu who would, in turn, procure the drugs for Bihari, earning some profit along the way,” he added.
According to the police, Gupta revealed during questioning that he is a graduate and drives an e-rickshaw in Ranchi. The group has been smuggling heroin from Ranchi to North Indian states via buses, trains or cars. To reduce suspicion they were accompanied by women from their families. They would carry heroin to cities in Uttar Pradesh like Aligarh, and Bareilly, as well as to Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR).
They would often change cars, switch off their phones and would cut off all communication until the drugs were delivered to the buyer at a given location and time. When a buyer would place an order for heroin, they would first ensure that the requisite price of the drug based on demand is transferred into their bank accounts before delivering it.
The police investigation has revealed that this time, they were smuggling heroin via train and were to deliver it to someone in Bareilly.
Another accused and shoe seller Shyam Bihari revealed that he would carry the illegal drugs along with his associate Gavendra in a rented car to Ghaziabad, Dehradun, Moradabad, Bareilly, and Aligarh. He was to supply this batch of heroin to Western UP and Uttarakhand, according to the police.
The driver of the vehicle Devendra revealed during questioning that he had been supplying drugs along with other gang members for a while, they added.
The Ghaziabad police said that continuous raids by several teams are presently underway based on crucial information revealed by the accused.