A team of the local Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) staff, led by Inspector Rupinderpal Singh, arrested a Nigerian woman and her taxi driver and recovered 3.069 kg of heroin from their possession at the Goindwal Sahib bypass here on Friday night.
The two alleged members of an international smuggling network were identified as Bella, daughter of Tawo and a resident of Delta State, Nigeria, currently residing near Zia Memorial Public School in Nangloi, New Delhi, and taxi driver Dilip Kumar, a resident of Sector 62, Khoda Colony, Adarsh Niketan Sital Vihar, Noida.
SP (Investigation) Riputapan Singh said on Saturday that the accused had allegedly come to the area to collect heroin smuggled from Pakistan. Acting on specific information regarding their movement, the police set up a checkpoint at the Goindwal Sahib bypass and arrested them.
The police said the seized heroin is valued at over Rs 15 crore in the international market. Riputapan Singh added that the accused were suspected to have links with smugglers operating in the region. They allegedly procured heroin from Pakistan through their network and supplied it to various parts of the country, including Punjab and Delhi.
According to the police, Bella had originally come to India for studies but later became involved in the narcotics trade. Officials recovered the taxi car being used by the accused, Rs 1,500 suspected to be drug money, and a mobile phone from their possession.
During preliminary interrogation, the police found that Bella allegedly had links with Pakistan-based smugglers involved in procuring and supplying narcotics across the border.
The city police have registered a case under the NDPS Act and launched further investigations to trace the accused’s network and activities in the region.
