The Delhi Police has made one of the biggest drug busts ever seen in the city, seizing over 560 kilograms of cocaine and 40 kilograms of hydroponic marijuana estimated to be worth around Rs 5,620 crore, officials said.
They said a Delhi Police Special Cell team nabbed four people from South Delhi's Mahipalpur and confiscated the consignment weighing over 602 kilograms.
Those arrested were identified as Tushar Goyal (40), Himanshu Kumar (27) and Aurangzeb Siddiqui (23) of Delhi and Bharat Kumar Jain (48) of Mumbai.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) P S Kushwah said Goyal, a resident of a posh locality in Vasant Vihar, is a major distributor of narco substances in India for this international racket. The other three are his associates.
Jain had come to Delhi to receive a consignment of 15 kg of cocaine from Goyal when all four of them were arrested outside a godown in Mahipalpur on October 1, Kushwah said.
Twenty-two cartons of banned drugs were found in the godown, he said, adding that 547 kg of cocaine and more than 40 kg of hydroponic marijuana were in them.
"This is one of the biggest hauls ever in Delhi," Kushwah said.
"The approximate price of the cocaine in the international market is Rs 10 crore per kg and the hydroponic marijuana is Rs 50 lakh per kg," he said, adding that the total estimated cost of the seized drugs is Rs 5,620 crore.
The officer said the origin of the marijuana is Phuket in Thailand. It was brought to India through the air route while the consignments of cocaine are suspected to have been collected from West Asian countries and states in India, he added.
Goyal is suspected to have links in Dubai and countries in West Asia, the officials added.
Kushwah said the accused would mostly pay in cryptocurrency to acquire the drugs and sell them in various parts of India.
Another official said a Special Cell team led by Inspectors Rahul Kumar and Vineet Kumar Tewatia under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police Amit Kaushik and ACP Kailash Singh Bisht had been working for over two months based on a tip-off which led to the bust just before the festive season.
The officer said Goyal graduated from a reputed university in 2003 and his father runs two publication houses in central Delhi. Apart from running this syndicate, Goyal also helps his father in his business.
Kumar, who worked as a bouncer and bodyguard, used to provide muscle power to Goyal and Siddiqui, a driver, helped him by delivering the consignments.
Police said Jain used to operate under the direction of a drug dealer in Mumbai and he had come to get the consignment from Goyal.
The four people are being interrogated and a probe is on, they said.
