LOOKEAST

LOOKEAST REPORT |

FIVE Chinese nationals arrested from Kolkata railway station for carrying almost 200 kilos of ‘Amphetamine’, popularly worth Rs 400 million late last week are part of a regional drug syndicate, drug enforcement officials suspect.

The arrests made by the Sealdah Government Railway Police (GRP) on 29 June but the case was later taken over by the state CID.

■ Arrested five Chinese nationals belong to the Guangzhou province.

The apprehended Chinese nationals were identified as Wang Xiao Dong, Xue Yonghui, Li Cheng, Cheng Hao and Liu Baoxian, according to the Railway Police.

Mobile phones, laptop, cash in Indian currency (Rupees 26K approximately), Chinese currency and seven railway tickets from Beldanga to Kolkata were also seized from them along with their passports and Chinese documents.

The accused were produced before the Court next day and taken into 14 days police remand for further interrogation. GRP officers booked them under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985.

Amphetamine, banned by several countries, is a neural stimulant/euphoria–inducing drug.

Investigators believed that the consignments – neatly packed in 27 packets – was smuggled in from China and Myanmar and was meant for big cities in India and Bangladesh.

Amphetamine, banned by several countries, is a neural stimulant/euphoria–inducing drug. Investigators believed that the consignments – neatly packed in 27 packets – was smuggled in from China and Myanmar and was meant for big cities in India and Bangladesh

The officers were surprised to find Chinese nationals bringing narcotics into the state, something not observed in recent decades.

The drugs were found in silver plastic packets inside their bags and they offered huge bribe to the GRP personnel to release them, the senior officer added.

■ Seized drug

“We have informed the Chinese consulate regarding the arrest to know more about their background. We have seized their passports, mobile phones, Chinese SIM cards, cash and a diary with several numbers. We have also found numbers of their agents in India and in neighbouring countries,” a senior Crime Investigation Department official said.

“We searched their seven bags and found these items. We took help of the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) officials in identifying the drugs. We have also found an airline ticket of Cathay Pacific. While interrogating, one of them, Wang Xiaodong, confessed that they were supposed to take this flight on June 29 to Hong Kong. From there, they were planning to go to Guangdong,” a senior GRP official said.

NCB Kolkata zonal head Dilip Kumar Srivastava said, “We sent our officers and it was found that all the bags contains Amphetamine. Such banned drugs are usually procured from Myanmar and China.”

Meanwhile, in a separate case, one Mubashir Manan was arrested in connection with a drug racket on the same day.

Talking about this case, Srivastava said, “A large number of psychotropic substances including Ecstasy and LSD blots were seized from his possession. He was supposed to deliver these items to his associates in Bangalore. Further investigation is underway.”

CID team with all the five accused went to Nowada Police station area and made further recovery similar pink tablets, which also tested positive for Amphetamine. Along with Amphetamine tablets, different Chinese medicines, one syringe pump, one grinding machine, etc were also recovered

“These Chinese have been frequent visitors to India. They had travelled to New Delhi, Mumbai and various other cities since 2016. We need to find out the purposes of those visits, whom they had met, for whom they have been working and who are the takers of these drugs,” the IPS officer said.

■ Chinese passports, mobile phones and other belongings recovered from arrested foreigners

All five were nabbed on the basis of intelligence inputs about their movement in Nowda area, Murshidabad.

On July 4, CID team with all the five accused went to Nowada Police station area and made further recovery similar pink tablets, which also tested positive for Amphetamine. Along with Amphetamine tablets, different Chinese medicines, one syringe pump, one grinding machine, etc were also recovered.

Further investigation also revealed that Wang and Xue arrived at the Kolkata airport from Hong Kong on June 23 this year while rest were already staying in India.

Analysis of mobile phones and seized laptop are under process.

Last week, another Chinese national was arrested from Siliguri in north Bengal with Indian Aadhaar card in his possession. Ye Wang, the arrested person, was booked under the Foreigners Act over charges of forgery and cheating. ■