More than 80 kg of high-grade cocaine worth around Rs 900 crore was recovered by the anti-drugs agency in Delhi today. The seizure of the party drug – one of the “biggest hauls of cocaine in Delhi” – came on a day a joint operation by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Navy and Gujarat ATS led to the recovery of nearly 700 kg of Methamphetamine off the Gujarat coast.
The seizures drew Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s praise who said the “breakthroughs” reflect the government’s resolve to build a “drug-free Bharat”.
The NCB revealed that the confiscation in the national capital was a result of months of work on the leads developed during previous seizures in March and August. “After working on the leads generated during the seizures in March and August 2024, and through technical and human intelligence, the NCB was finally able to reach the source of the contraband and 82.53 kg of high-grade cocaine was recovered from Janakpuri and Nangloi,” it said.
“The massive drug consignment worth approximately Rs 900 crore was tracked down by a bottom-to-top approach after drugs were seized in a courier centre in Delhi,” Mr Shah posted on X.
The agency initially recovered drugs from a courier shop from a parcel meant for Australia. The agency said it was able to backtrack the supply despite “cut-offs to the bulk quantity, which was concealed in Janakpuri and Nangloi areas of Delhi”.
The syndicate was being operated by a group of people based abroad, revealed an investigation into the case.
The agency said the accused were mainly “hawala operators and anonymous to each other”. They used “pseudo-names for day-to-day conversations on drug dealing”, the NCB said.
Two operatives of the syndicate, residents of Delhi and Sonipat, have been arrested.
The seizure in Gujarat, after an operation on the sea, saw the arrest of eight Iranian nationals.
An operation codenamed ‘Sagar Manthan- 4’ was launched based on intelligence inputs to intercept an un-registered vessel, without an AIS (automatic identification system) or an electronic boat or ship-tracking indicator, that will be entering the Indian waters with drugs, the NCB said in a statement.
Amit Shah congratulated the federal anti-narcotics agency on the “major” success and asserted that the government’s hunt against drug rackets will continue “ruthlessly”.