Delhi cops seize meow meow worth Rs 20 crore; 8 held

NEW DELHI: In a massive haul of party drug meow meow, the special cell of Delhi Police has recovered 14kg of the banned hallucinogenic substance priced at around Rs 25 crore and arrested eight smugglers. This is Delhi Police's biggest seizure of the drug which is beco ming increasingly popular in the city's party circuit.Shockingly , an inspector-rank customs officer (name withheld) is alleged to be the source of the consignment, police said. He is absconding.The special cell visited his office but found he had not attended work for the past two days and his residence was locked.The seizure, police said, was another indication that cartels dealing in mephedrone, the other name for meow meow, were making greater inroads into the city. Sources said clubs in south and southeast Delhi were the hotbeds of mephedrone supply. Cops have zeroed in on a person named Kailash, based in the UAE, as the mastermind of this racket. Initial probe indicates he may have links with the underworld. Kailash escaped to Dubai from Mumbai after his name cropped up in drug rackets there. Joint commissioner (cell) V Renganathan said a special team was formed two months ago to check the drug menace in the capital.“Voluminous mobile phone data was scrutinised.Informers were sensitised and alerted to collect information on the city's drug gangs. It emerged that mephedrone was being rampantly used by youngsters in rave parties in Delhi, Mumbai and other metros,“ Renganathan said.The drug was found to be supplied to consumers by traffickers hailing from Delhi, UP and Mumbai.On July 23, cops received information that a person named Faizan Supariwala had come to Delhi to receive a consignment and could be apprehended in GK-II. “A raid was conducted and Supariwala, a resident of Pathanwadi area in Mumbai, was nabbed.He had 1kg of mephedrone on him. During interrogation, the accused revealed he had received the parcels of drugs from one Sunny , a resident of CR Park, and that Sunny was going to deliver another packet to a man near a gurudwara in GK-II. On his instance, Sunny alias Surender Lamba, a resident of F block in CR Park was arrested,“ DCP (special cell) Sanjeev Yadav said.Lamba took the names of smugglers, Guddu and Rishi, as his suppliers. The duo, along with three others -Manoj, Sanjay and Deepak -was arrested subsequently .The accused revealed that one Mahender was a big supplier of the drug. He was subsequently arrested with 9kg of meow meow.Mahender, in turn, disclosed that a customs inspec tor had provided him 21kg of the drug, of which he had sold around 12kg.“Supariwala has disclosed that he was working for Arif who in turn worked for Kailash and the syndicate sent the drugs abroad as well.Their receivers are based in the UAE, Gulf and European countries. The gang also sold the drugs in small pouches of 10 grams after mixing the drug with Ajinomoto, to increase its weight, to local consumers,“ Yadav added.Police said more raids were being conducted at several places to nab other members of the syndicate.