New Delhi: Delhi Police made their fifth arrest on Thursday in connection with the seizure of over 500kg of cocaine—the largest amount ever confiscated in the capital, valued at around ₹ 2,000 crore. Special Cell officers apprehended Jitendra Pal Singh, also known as Jassi, at the airport in Amritsar, Punjab, as he attempted to escape to the United Kingdom, suggesting connections between organized crime in the UK and a national network involved in drug smuggling.
Singh, 40, an Indian citizen who had lived as a ‘permanent resident’ in the UK for 17 years, was attempting to flee after police made the drug seizure and detained four individuals. Authorities suspect this drug syndicate, operating out of Delhi and Mumbai, has ties to Dubai. The name of an Indian national, Virendra Basoya, currently residing in the Middle East, has emerged during interrogations.
Basoya, believed to be a key player in the drug trafficking network, was previously arrested in an unrelated case but was released on bail. Notably, last year, police in Pune, Maharashtra, conducted raids in Delhi and recovered drugs valued at ₹ 3,000 crore, including mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant known as ‘meow meow.’
The police operation coincided with Basoya’s son’s wedding to the daughter of a former MLA from Uttar Pradesh’s Noida, held at an opulent farmhouse near Delhi’s airport. Following the police raid, Basoya fled to Dubai after the wedding and is now believed to lead an international drug cartel.
