Family façade exposed: Major drug trafficking raid in Delhi | Delhi News

New Delhi: At first glance, they seemed like a typical family, full of enthusiasm, embarking on their vacation. Their friendly smiles and easy laughs blended perfectly into the busy crowd at the train station. On the way to their destination, they often opened their lunch boxes and shared their food with their fellow travelers. They gave the image of ordinary travelers.
Their luggage, consisting of trolleys and backpacks, seemed to promise a peaceful holiday. But behind the facade of normality lurked a sinister truth. Anita, alias Mano, 45, Aman Rana, 26, and a 16-year-old girl were not who they seemed. Their harmless appearance allegedly concealed their drug-trafficking cunning.
Their behavior and communal eating habits were carefully orchestrated to avoid suspicion and enable them to transport their illegal cargo undetected.
However, her frequent travel plans between Odisha and Delhi were disrupted when the Delhi Crime Branch cracked down on the network. In successive operations, the police arrested not only her but also four other members of the network and seized a staggering 400 kg of drugs.
The modules were recovered as part of an operation codenamed Kavach, led by Special Commissioner Devesh Srivastava. A team comprising Additional CP Sanjay Bhatia and DCP Satish Kumar meticulously investigated the modus operandi of the smugglers, the routes they took and the source that supplied them with the contraband. The end users of this supply chain were college and school students.
The first breakthrough came after the Crime Branch received information about the travel plans of the suspected family they had been tracking. A tip-off prompted ACP Narender Beniwal and Inspector Sandeep Tushir of the Crime Branch's NR-II unit to lay a trap near Shakur Basti railway station.
The operation unfolded like a thriller and the accused was completely taken by surprise. When the police tracked down the fake family module, they seized 41.5 kg of high-quality ganja, which is worth around Rs 50 lakh in the international market.
As police dug deeper, Anita's alleged dark past came to light. Previous run-ins with the law for illegal liquor and drug trafficking, coupled with her husband's troubled past, revealed a hardened criminal. Aman, an eighth-grade dropout, had succumbed to the lure of quick money, while the underage girl was caught in the web of crime.
Interestingly, they were not the only ones using this modus operandi. It turned out that the cartels often used such “families.” Their modus operandi – posing as a family – had almost perfected the art of deception. By traveling together, they avoided raising suspicion and took advantage of the trust and security normally associated with family units.
The criminal police penetrated deeper into this network and subsequently arrested four more smugglers and confiscated 357 kg of high-quality cannabis worth around Rs 1.78 crore in the international market.
The accused have been identified as Sandeep Kumar, Joginder, Naveen Kumar and Rajesh Adikathia. According to police, they were caught transporting the contraband from the Andhra-Orissa border to Delhi and NCR.
The second team, comprising Inspector Sandeep Yadav and others, operated on the ground and used technical intelligence to nab the accused. The investigation revealed that the accused were lured by quick money and had previous links with drug suppliers.
This network specialises in trafficking a highly sought-after cannabis strain called Sheelavathi, which originates from the state of Odisha. It is hugely popular among the youth of the national capital Delhi and fetches a whopping Rs 100,000 per kg on the black market.
To meet this demand, cartels from Odisha and Andhra Pradesh employ various drug mules who transport the drugs through trains and modified trucks with hidden cavities. Other sought-after varieties like Idukki Gold and Mysore Mango are also in high demand, especially among college and school students and young professionals who unknowingly fuel the illicit trade.