NEW DELHI: Delhi Police’s Special Cell, in coordination with the Central Bureau of Investigation, has extradited fugitive Prabhdeep Singh from Azerbaijan in connection with a major narcotics case involving the recovery of 358 kg of heroin, officials said on Wednesday.
Prabhdeep, who had been absconding since 2023, was brought back to India from Baku by a three-member Special Cell team after completion of extradition formalities, police said.
According to investigators, Prabhdeep allegedly managed operations in India for abroad-based drug kingpin Navpreet Singh alias Nav, whose last known location was Turkey.
Police said he acted as a key conduit between Navpreet and other accused, including Gurpreet Singh and Gurjot Singh, from whom 333 kg of heroin was recovered during the investigation.
DCP (Special Cell) Pankaj Kumar Tripathi said the case first surfaced in 2021 after police received inputs about Rizwan Ahmed alias Rizwan Kashmiri allegedly running a drug network across Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and MP.
On July 5, 2021, Rizwan was arrested in Delhi’s Ghitorni area while allegedly delivering one kilogram of heroin. During interrogation, he revealed that he worked under the directions of Afghan national Isha Khan, who was allegedly operating from Afghanistan.
Based on Rizwan’s disclosures, police raided hideouts in Faridabad and arrested Gurpreet Singh and Gurjot Singh, recovering 236 kg of heroin. Later, another Afghan national, Hazrat Ali, was arrested from Gurugram with two kilograms of heroin and nearly 100 kg of chemicals allegedly used in heroin processing. Investigators further found that Gurpreet had met Navpreet in Kapurthala Jail in Punjab while both were lodged in separate NDPS cases.
So far, 11 accused have been arrested in the case, including Rizwan Ahmed, Gurpreet Singh, Gurjot Singh, Hazrat Ali, Ramandeep Singh, Hardev Singh, Manjit Singh, Prabhjit Singh, Lovejit Singh alias Labba, Manjeet Singh alias Manna and Prabhdeep Singh alias Harry.