NEW DELHI: As the cops continue their investigation in one of the city's biggest drug haul of recent times, six lookout circulars have been issued against people while parallelly the Enforcement Directorate has initiated a financial investigation into the matter.
The latest LOC was issued against Savinder Singh, a United Kingdom national, who had fled the country just before the Special Cell of the Delhi Police found another consignment of 208 Kg of Cocaine hidden at a recently rented godown in west Delhi's Ramesh Nagar.
Seven people have been arrested so far in the cocaine recovery case which includes Akhlak, a native of Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, who was nabbed by a team of Special Cell from the neighbouring state on Thursday.
It was through Akhlak's interrogation, the police got to know about a GPS-fitted car that was carrying more than 200 Kg consignment of Cocaine.
The cops tracked the vehicle to Ramesh Nagar and ultimately seized the drugs whose estimated value was Rs 2000 Crore.
"The Indian-origin UK national Savinder Singh had escaped before the Special Cell team arrived at the location following which an LOC was issued against him and five other people," an officer privy to the probe said.
As per the officer, the fugitive drug offender Singh spent around 25 days in three separate locations in Delhi before fleeing to the United Kingdom soon after the arrest of the first four members of the syndicate.
In a major success against the drug menace rampant in the city, the Delhi Police this month busted a major drug cartel and within 7 days seized Cocaine with a value in the international market estimated to be more than Rs 7000 Crore.
The prime accused of the cartel is said to be a Dubai-based businessman named Virendra Basoya, who the cops believe was running the racket with the help of two people -- Tushar Goyal and Jitender Gill alias Jassi -- both arrested by the police.
Goyal, who owns the godown in Mahipalpur from where 560 Kg of Cocaine was recovered, was arrested on October 2 along with Himanshu Kumar (27) and Aurangzeb Siddiqui (23) of Delhi and Bharat Kumar Jain (48) of Mumbai.
The Special Cell nabbed Jassi from Punjab's Amritsar on October 3 while he was trying to escape the country. A lookout circular was also issued against Basoya recently.
Brainy smugglers
Remember the 80's Bollywood classic where the smugglers used to exchange the contraband by first joining a half-torn Indian currency note.
By matching the digits on the note, the smugglers would know that they are receiving or giving consignment to the right person. This drug cartel was doing exactly the same! Whenever the two smugglers exchanging drugs were unknown to each other, they would bring half-torn currency notes and match them.
However, that was not enough, the cartel was using code words while distributing the contraband in the capital to local drug peddlers. Through this they were always sure that they were not being tracked by any law enforcement agency and delivering the Cocaine to the right people.
Sources say their communication method was even efficient to evade the law of the land. "The cartel used encrypted paid apps for communication and made payments for drug consignments using cryptocurrencies," official sources said.
Federal Probe Agency active
The massive drug bust has also activated the financial crime probe agency Enforcement Directorate which has now registered a money laundering case and subsequently conducted searches at various locations including Delhi, Mumbai, Gurugram and some other cities.
According to the officials, the sleuths of the federal agency raided the premises of various accused and suspects including that of Tushar Goel and his wife in the Vasant Enclave and Rajouri Garden areas of Delhi.
ED's search operation was conducted at multiple locations including the residential premises of Himanshu Kumar in Prem Nagar in Delhi and that of Bharat Kumar in Nalasopara, Mumbai, business premises of Tushar Books Publication Private Limited and Tulip Publications Private Limited in Jhandewalan area of Delhi and ABN Buildtech Private Limited in Gurugram are also under scanner.
The officer said that these companies are owned and controlled by the accused Tushar Goel and his family members. The federal probe agency's investigation has revealed that Tushar had visited Dubai and Thailand in June this year and had met his other associates to plan the movement and distribution of narcotic drugs.
"The accused Tushar Goel was in connivance with a Dubai-based mastermind who has previously also been linked with the supply of Cocaine and other Narcotic and Psychotropic substances," the officer said.
The searches have resulted in the recovery of key financial documents which have details of the financial activities of the accused as well as the details regarding the movable and immovable properties of the accused and their family members.