In a joint operation, the Bengaluru Cybercrime Economic Offences and Narcotic (CEN) and Customs officials recently busted a major international drug racket which was operating via India Post and recovered narcotic substances worth ₹21,17,34,000.
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This year, the CEN police had arrested 12 people in different cases for procuring drugs from foreign nations via post and had registered cases against them in stations across Bengaluru. In September, four such cases were registered in just one week. The police had arrested three people who were involved in three of these cases. As the frequency of the cases increased within a short period, they decided to take up a larger operation to bust the racket.
Bigger operation
Thus, the police paid a visit to the Foreign Post Office and in an operation with the Customs officials, inspected 3,500 suspicious parcels which had come in from US, UK, Belgium, Thailand, Netherlands and other nations with the help of sniffer dogs. Out of those, 606 parcels contained narcotic substances.
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After registering a case, they seized the following items from the parcels: 28 kg of hydro ganja, 2,569 LSD, 1.6 kg MDMA crystals, 11,908 ecstasy tablets, 770 grams of heroin, 102 grams of cocaine, 6.28 kg amphetamine, 336 gm of charas, 1.27 kg ganja oil, 445 gm of methacholine, 11 e-cigarettes, 102 ml nicotine and 400 grams of tobacco.
“As of now, it appears that the accused persons were importing illegal narcotics substances from countries like US, UK, Belgium and Thailand via India Post and selling them at a higher price to their customers to make money,” explained B. Dayananda, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru on Friday (October 18, 2024).
The police have still not identified any accused persons in the case. “The CCB police are investigating further to find out who procured these parcels, from whom they were procured, the destination of these parcels and other details,” the Commissioner said.