Nine people, including four university students, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the supply of drugs to college-goers and others in Noida. The police have claimed international links in the racket.
The police have seized a variety of Indian and foreign-origin drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, hashish, and MDMA, estimated to be worth around Rs 30 lakh in the black market. The arrests were made as part of a crackdown on narcotics ordered by Police Commissioner Laxmi Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Noida) Harish Chander said, as per a report by PTI.
“It's an ongoing crackdown against narcotics in which arrests and seizures have been made in Greater Noida in the past. Now as part of the same campaign, nine people have been arrested by the Sector 126 police station officials,” he said.
“Four of them are students, two enrolled in MBA and two in LLB programmes at a university here (Noida). These accused, especially the four students, were supplying the drugs to educational institutions and PGs. They procured high-quality marijuana from Shillong,” added the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), flanked by Additional DCP Shakti Mohan Avasthy and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Rajneesh Verma.
Sharing details of recovery, police said they have seized 15 kg of marijuana procured from Shillong and Udaipur, 30 gm of cocaine, 20 gm of MDMA (pills), 150 gm of hashish and 65 gm of foreign-origin marijuana. They have also seized two electronic weighing machines, 10 mobile phones, Rs 3,200 cash, besides impounding an SUV and two motorcycles, all of which were used for drug supply.
Those arrested have been identified as Akshay Kumar (32), Rajan Singh (20), Darshan Jain (21), Aditya Kumar (21), Satendra Srivastava (21), Sagar Bajaj (22), Anit Som (22), Apoorva Saxena (28) and Narendra Kumar (28).
DCP Chander said that the Noida Police found a link based in Rajasthan, which is Narendra Kumar, who supplied drugs to the other accused. Apart from those arrested, three more people's involvement has also come to light. They have been identified and will be arrested soon, the DCP said. Among those absconding is a man of African origin but a resident of Delhi, Chander added.
The police are contacting educational institutions and sharing information with them while developing the linkages of the drug supply racket. During questioning, accused Anit Som told the police that he had purchased a few packets of cannabis from a gang that was busted recently in Greater Noida.
According to police, the accused Akshay Kumar's wife works in Taiwan and he procured cocaine through her. He would visit Taiwan and return with OG, which was then sold for a rate as high as Rs 10,000 per gram, as per PTI.
“The police are further exploring the two links of drug procurement, one from Taiwan and the other from Nigeria, which have come to light during the initial probe in the case,” DCP Chander said. An FIR has been lodged in the case under provisions of the stringent Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, police said, adding that further legal proceedings are being carried out.
