How gang used Facebook to cover drug trail

NEW DELHI: Drug mules in Delhi are communicating through Facebook to escape police surveillance. Even if tracked, it takes time for the pursuers to get their details from the social networking website giving them enough time to cover their trails. This new trend was unearthed when the Special Cell of Delhi Police nabbed three men with 5.2 kg of Afghan heroin worth Rs 21 crore in the international market.
Police found out that one of the arrested smugglers had met a man of African origin while imprisoned on peddling charged and had been given a Facebook ID. After coming out of jail, the smuggler sent a coded text via Facebook Messenger and soon became a part of a heroin cartel. While the group mostly sent heroin to European countries through courier companies, a fraction was consumed in Delhi and Punjab.
According to Pramod Kushwaha, DCP, Special Cell, the accused are Deepak Goel (28), Harinder Pal (21) and Chigemezu Obiji alias Prince, a Nigerian. “During the interrogation of the arrested drug suppliers, we found that apart from Indians, people of Afghan and African origin were also part of the drug cartel,” Kushwaha disclosed.
On July 29, an informer tipped off a team comprising inspector Ishwar Singh, sub-inspector Nirbhay Rana and others, which was on the pursuit of the module, that two of the smugglers were to go to Singhu border in a Skoda car to deliver a consignment. Police awaited them near Mukarba Chowk.
“Around 6.30pm, a Skoda car with two passengers was flagged down. The driver tried to speed away, but the team managed to intercept the vehicle and later recovered 4.5 kg of heroin from the car,” said Kushwaha. The accused admitted that they sourced heroin from Prince, who was subsequently tracked and arrested.
Prince came to India from Nigeria in 2016 on a business visa but never returned home. He disclosed that he sourced the heroin from a Ugandan based in Uttam Nagar. The heroin had been brought to India by Afghan carriers, who came after swallowing heroin-filled capsules.
“Deepak Goel revealed that he met Prince two years ago when he was lodged in Patiala jail in a narcotics case. Prince had asked him to contact him on his Facebook ID after release,” Kushwaha said. After contacting Prince, Goel and his aide procured more than 80 kg of heroin that they supplied to drug peddlers in north India.