NEW DELHI: Making the largest-ever seizure of grade-A Colombian

in the capital, the Narcotics Control Bureau has recovered 20kg of the contraband worth over Rs 100 crore in the international market. Nine people, including an Indonesian woman who is said to be the drug kingpin, have been arrested from Delhi and NCR for smuggling in the consignment, which made its way into the city ahead of Christmas and New Year Day celebrations.

Among the arrested are two Nigerian nationals and an American citizen. The anti-narcotics operation, part of a nationwide crackdown initiated by NCB director Rakesh Asthana, was started on the basis of a tip-off given by Australia. Australia police had seized a huge consignment of 55 kg of cocaine in their country and traced its origin to Delhi. "A team led by deputy director (operations) KPS Malhotra tracked the five male traffickers and arrested them from different parts of NCR. The woman (identified as Monika Rainheart) was arrested from Ambience Mall in Vasant Kunj," said SK Jha, deputy directory general, NCB (northern region).

20kg of drugs

The men were identified as Akshinder Singh Sodhi, one of the key contact points of the cartel in India, who was earlier involved in a drug case unearthed by the Mumbai DRI. Yogesh Kumar Dhuna, Ramkesh Singh, Sammy and Vansh Chhabra were distributors and receivers of the contraband. Indonesian woman Monika Rainheart has been in-charge of its wing in the country while he used to work for the members of the cartel.

Arrests made after month-long NCB ops

Yogesh Kumar Dhuna, Ramkesh Singh, Sammy and Vansh Chhabra were distributors and receivers of the contraband. They were caught after a monthlong operation based on Sodhi’s interrogation.

Sodhi revealed that Indonesian woman Monika Rainheart has been in-charge of its wing in the country while he used to work for the members of the cartel. He claimed the members had also registered a company in his name to transfer foreign funds. The cartel mastermind, whom Rainheart reports to, is an Indian-origin man based in Canada. The mastermind has a network of drug dealers in South America, especially Columbia and Brazil, on his payroll. “This cartel even took multiple properties at well-known housing complexes in Ghaziabad on rent that were used to store drugs. Sodhi used to assist the group in delivering the cocaine to clients and their destinations around malls and other public places,” said Malhotra.

Before sending out his men for delivery, Sodhi used to used to do a recce of the area to look for any suspicious movement. None of the members of the cartel would know each other’s real name or identity as transactions were usually made without revealing the identity of a sender or buyer.

For the past few weeks, Rainheart has been personally monitoring the transactions since the cartel members, based in Canada, Nigeria and Australia, had turned cautious after their consignment to Australia containing 200kg of Methamphetamine and 55kg of finished cocaine was busted. They were trying to shift the base from Ghaziabad to a new location and were on the verge of vacating the properties, police said.

A day before the raid, Sodhi had given a bag full of cocaine to Ramkesh Singh and told him to keep in safe custody till they return to Ghaziabad. This consignment was seized from Singh. Vansh and Sammy were caught from Rudrapur near Haldwani based on Sodhi’s revelation. Sammy was found to be an integral part of the logistic management. Vansh revealed that a huge consignment of drugs stuffed into a plasma-cutting machine used for industrial production was sent to Australia. An NCB team intercepted recovered the drugs.

A follow-up operation was conducted after this during which the NCB officials caught a Nigerian national, Ojobe Kingslay, who handled the financesin India and transact using hawala routes with his networks in Malaysia, South Africa, Brazil and Australia. The NCB also arrested Richard Walter Fournier, a US citizen, and a trafficker with 4.2kg of cocaine from a hotel in Mahipalpur. Another Nigerian national, Obiora Tony Okike, who was sent to receive the drugs from Fournier, was caught during the raid.