LOOKEAST REPORT |
SENIOR officials of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have reached Calcutta to investigate the Chinese drug syndicate exposed by recent arrests in the city.
■ Arrested five Chinese nationals | Kolkata Police
They have already questioned the five Chinese nationals arrested with a huge quantity of
New York and China and pointed to synthetic amphetamine — type stimulants (ATS) being manufactured in Bengal, this is the first time that the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has returned to Calcutta to chase leads of a new and more complex drug trail reported to be originating in China
amphetamines in the city’s Kolkata railway station this month.
The interrogations took place in the state CID headquarters at Alipore on Tuesday and is skated to continue for the rest of the week.
Almost 15 years after they played a crucial role in busting an international chain of drug suppliers in Kolkata, New York and China and pointed to synthetic amphetamine — type stimulants (ATS) being manufactured in Bengal, this is the first time that the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has returned to Calcutta to chase leads of a new and more complex drug trail reported to be originating in China.
The five Chinese nationals who were arrested recently at Real day were carrying almost 200kg ‘amphetamine’ worth 390 million Indian rupees.
DEA sources said Chinese manufactured ATS — especially from Guangxi province — has been a cause of concern back in the US.
DEA wanted to know if this drugs were to be smuggled outside India or were brought from outside India. Though they had initially decided to bring along a translator, the Subsidiary Intelligence Branch (SIB) along with other central agencies, including the Narcotics Control Bureau, decided to appoint a translator of their own to help out the DEA team
So the DEA wanted to know if this drugs were to be smuggled outside India or were brought from outside India. Though they had initially decided to bring along a translator, the Subsidiary Intelligence Branch (SIB) along with other central agencies, including the Narcotics Control Bureau, decided to appoint a translator of their own to help out the DEA team.
■ The US Drug Enforcement Administration sleuths at CID hub in Kolkata | The Telegraph
All five accused were subjected to several rounds of questioning all through Tuesday. Several agencies, including an officer from DEA, have questioned them. “We are hoping for some real time information sharing based on the questioning” claimed a CID source.
The arrest of the five led the CID to raid a house in Murshidabad’s Nowda. “The single–storey building was known to be a charcoal manufacturing unit. Our raid revealed the five Chinese manufactured drugs in the building with the help of some youths,” an officer said.
DIG (operations) Nishat Pervez confirmed about the DEA official coming to Bhawani Bhawan but said details cannot be shared given the sensitive nature of the case. The breakthrough came after questioning the five Chinese nationals whom the GRP had arrested on the night of June 29.
CID sources said they came to know that two of the accused had come to Kolkata airport from Hong Kong on June 23. The other three, who were in India for the past few weeks, met the two at Murshidabad. ■
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