New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS): The Delhi Police have arrested three foreign nationals with contraband drugs worth Rs 13 crores in the international market, an official said here on Wednesday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Shankar Choudhary said they have busted an international drug syndicate that was involved in the smuggling and distribution of heroin.

"So far no less than 1 kg 300 gms of good quality heroin, valued internationally close to Rs 13 crores, has been seized. The seizure has revealed that the heroin was smuggled into India from the African continent through Russia by using Indian ports and cross border smuggling via Bangladesh and Nepal," he said.

For the past few days, information was being received through reliable sources that some African nationals were involved in the import and distribution of drugs. Soon, it emerged that a suspected group of persons, including some African nationals, was involved in drug peddling.

The police received a tip-off on October 1 that movement of a large quantity of contraband drugs was expected to take place at a location near R-Extension Block, Mohan Garden, by some African nationals.

A team was deployed and it nabbed two Nigerian nationals identified as Henry Okolie and Uchechukwu Peter Igbonaju after a brief encounter. Upon searching, the police recovered 1 kg fine quality contraband drug, suspected to be heroin (500 gms each), parcelled in white polythene packets weighing approximately 1 kg which were concealed in their pockets.

During interrogation, the duo revealed that they came to India in 2019 as intruders via Bangladesh. They also disclosed the contraband was brought from Africa through Russia and then finally to India via Indian ports and cross border smuggling. Then some big vendors contacted the retailers through virtual mode and supplied the contraband at the retailers venues.

They also disclosed the mobile number of one of the vendors in Delhi, identified as UkaChukwu, and the virtual numbers of African vendors. Both the African nationals had rented two rooms on different floors of H.No. 77, R-extension Block, Mohan Garden where they lived on the ground floor and set up a factory on the top floor of the same building. The Anti-Narcotics Cell (Dwarka District) recovered the contraband drugs along with chemicals and instruments used in their manufacture.

Both the Nigerian nationals were produced before a court that sent them to police custody.

The duo was asked to call UkaChukwu for more consignments who then told them to meet him at R-Extension Block, Mohan Garden area.

After this, the Anti-Narcotics Cell laid a trap and apprehended UkaChukwu with 300 gms of fine quality drugs.

UkaChukwu revealed that he had received the drug from another African national who resides in Africa. He admitted that he was a big supplier of contraband drugs and has a large customer base in Delhi. He dealt in various drugs such as cocaine, heroin and MD.

It was found that the accused smuggled the contraband from Nigeria and he was an intruder and came to Delhi through Bangladesh without a valid visa.

The police have registered a case under relevant sections of the NDPS Act and a further probe is on.

The senior official informed that several more arrests will take place and more drug recoveries are likely.