Drug agency busts pan India trafficking network; NCB constable among 22 held
New Delhi, February 13: At least 22 active members of a syndicate including Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) constable, a young financial analyst and an Army officer's son were arrested in multiple raids across the country as the drug agency busted a pan-India darknet drug trafficking case.
NCB busted a pan-India drug trafficking network on Saturday after a 4-month long operation informed Gyaneshwar Singh, the Deputy Director General (North Region), NCB.
He further revealed that the accused have connections in the USA, the Netherlands, Poland etc.
"A total of 22 active members of the syndicate were arrested in simultaneous raids all over India at locations in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Assam, Delhi, NCR, Punjab, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh having linkages with source countries including USA, UK, Netherlands, Poland etc," the Deputy Director General added.
An NCB official who conspired with the main accused Jasbir Singh in the destruction of evidence was also arrested under Section 59 A of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, according to Singh. The NCB official was apprehended and is currently being held in judicial custody.
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Jasbir Singh, one of the kingpins of darknet drug trafficking in West Bengal, was very aggressive, according to the NCB Deputy Director-General, and intended to take over the Indian market for ecstasy, LSD and weed.
Shraddha Surana, a young financial analyst with a multinational corporation, is another accused in the case. "She became involved in darknet drug trafficking after falling in love with Jasbir. She used to handle all finances in crypto and UPI," said the official.
Meanwhile, Siddharth, who is the son of the high-rank officer in the Indian Army, along with Suvashish Roy, who is a fashion designer with an entertainment company was also involved in the drug trafficking case.
Suvashish allegedly used to prepare stickers similar to an eCommerce platform to ship the parcels containing drugs. Meanwhile, a young singer Divyas Bhardewa was also arrested in connection with the matter.
The main accused LSD King aka Raghunath Kumar was operating the entire syndicate from jail. "He belongs to poor family background and was a college dropout. Raghunath was a victim of child sex abuse. LSD King was arrested in Karnataka with 570 blots. He is currently lodged in Bellary and is operating from jail," he added.
These members use the darknet, social media, cryptocurrencies, couriers and Indian Post for the trafficking of drugs, said Gyaneshwar Singh.
He further added that "Almost, all the accused were in the age group of 20-35 years. They varied from professionals such as engineers, doctors, financial consultants, businessmen to artists such as musicians, to school dropouts."
The NCB had shut down 3 darknet drug markets like 'Dark Net Market (DNM)', an India based web platform to sell/ buy drugs, locate suppliers/buyers and assess the quality of the product; 'DRED', a dark web page for review rating and internal performance appraisal of India based drug dealers, mainly used by foreign vendors and 'The Orient Express', telegram based group with around. 300 members(consumers/street level peddlers) and 6 verified vendors (Suppliers).
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-PTC News
