Delhi Police arrests 3 key drug suppliers while probing 2024 cannabis seizure case

New Delhi, Jun 9 (PTI) An investigation into a 2024 cannabis seizure case led the Delhi Police to three key narcotic dealers who were running an inter-state drug trafficking network, officials said on Monday.

The drug smugglers -- Praduman Ray (30), Dhananjay Kumar (35) and Santosh Kumar (37) -- were arrested from Visakhapatnam after a series of raids, they said.

In December last year, 52 kg of high-quality cannabis was recovered from a courier warehouse in Delhi’s Paschim Vihar West. Following this, the city police launched an investigation to trace the forward and backwards links of the network, the police said.

A suspect was traced to Haryana and taken into custody for questioning. His interrogation led to the identification of Dhananjay Kumar, a key narcotic supplier hailing Patna, Bihar, they said.

"Based on further inputs from the arrested accused, raids were conducted in Patna, but on March 28, Kumar was arrested from Visakhapatnam. He disclosed the names of his two close associates -- Praduman and Santosh -- who were also located and apprehended from Visakhapatnam," a police officer said.

The three men admitted to being part of a well-organised drug supply syndicate, which sourced contraband from regions near the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border and routed it to Delhi via courier services for further distribution, the officer said.

The accused were produced before a Delhi court on June 7 and were remanded to judicial custody, the police said.

According to the police, the three accused, all residents of Patna, have a criminal history. Further investigation is underway to trace their associates. PTI BM NB NB