'Order on WhatsApp, contactless deliveries': How Shimla police uncovered an apple trader's interstate drug trafficking | Shimla news

NEW DELHI: Orders for the drug were generated through WhatsApp, deliveries were initiated and delivery was carried out. But the deliverer and the final recipient never saw each other. In fact, people in the demand and supply chain acted as independent entities. Shahi Mahatma (Shashi Negi), an apple trader in the upper Shimla region, ran an interstate 'chitta' (adulterated heroin) smuggling racket for five to six years, evading law enforcement by ensuring that the points were so different that they were not related to each other could be connected to reach him.
Shahi Mahatma (Shashi Negi) was the only common link between the demand and supply chain of “Chitta”.
The breakthrough came on September 20 after police seized 465 grams of 'chitta' from Kharapathar the previous day. “Links of accused Mudasir Ahmed Mochi, a resident of Bhatpura village in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir (who was arrested on September 19) were established with Shahi Mahatma alias Shashi Negi and the leader was arrested,” SP Shimla Sanjeev said Kumar Gandhi.
Negi, along with 40 associates, distributed drugs in areas such as Rohru, Jubbal-Kotkhai and Theog under the guise of an apple business. He had links with Nigerian and other gangs in New Delhi, Haryana and Kashmir.
Gandhi explained the gang's modus operandi: The drugs changed hands four times before delivery. Different teams managed demand, supply and payments, ensuring Negi had no direct contact with partners. Orders were verified and placed via WhatsApp, medicines were placed in isolated locations and videos were shared with shoppers for collection.
Money from transactions passed through several bank accounts before reaching Negi's account in Solan. “People whose accounts were used in these transactions never knew they were drug money,” Gandhi said.
A cash flow of Rs 2.5-3 crore has been detected in Negi's accounts in the last 15 months. The police had earlier registered five FIRs under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Drugs Act against nine people involved and arrested 25 so far.
A local intelligence network enabled the registration of 650 cases and the arrest of 1,100 Drug dealersincluding 205 interstate traders in Shimla in the last 18 months. To prevent further drug trafficking, police will increase patrols and surveillance in educational institutions and public places.