Police seize 208 kg of cocaine worth Rs 2,080 crore from west Delhi, second big haul in a week
New Delhi, Oct 10: In the second big drug haul in a week, Delhi Police has seized 208 kg of cocaine worth Rs 2,080 crore from a rented shop in west Delhi, an official said on Thursday evening.
The drugs were hidden inside plastic packets of snacks with 'Tasty Treat' and 'Chatpata Mixture' written on them. About 20-25 such packets kept in cartons were recovered from a small narrow shop in west Delhi's Ramesh Nagar area, the official said.
The seizure is linked to an earlier recovery of 562 kg of drugs worth over Rs 5,000 crore from southwest Delhi's Mahipalpur, he said.
He further said the recovered seizure weighs around 208 kg, which is worth Rs 2,080 crore in international market.
Official sources said the consignment was kept there by an Indian origin UK citizen who is now on the run.
"We got a tip off during investigations of our previous seizure and arrest. On Thursday evening, a team of the Special Cell was sent to the shop and recovered the consignment," a police officer said.
The UK citizen, who is identified by the police, managed to escape before the arrival of the team. He had taken the shop on rent a few days ago, the officer said, adding two people including the owner of the shop have been detained and questioned.
The owner told the police that the shop was taken on rent for business related to garments, the officer said.
It is suspected that the UK citizen wanted to transport the drug consignment to other parts of the country but he fled after the police's previous seizure, he said.
The Special Cell, on October 2, had seized over 560 kg of cocaine and 40 kg of hydroponic marijuana estimated to be worth Rs 5,620 crore from a godown in Mahipalpur in south Delhi and arrested four people. Two more persons were subsequently apprehended from Amritsar and Chennai.
Earlier in the day, the Special Cell arrested a man identified as Akhlak, a native of Hapur, Uttar Pradesh. This was the seventh person to be arrested in the case.
The police sources said the syndicate was allegedly run by a Dubai-based businessman Virender Basoya. He was allegedly running the racket with the help of Tushar Goyal and Jitender Gill alias Jassi, both arrested by the police, they said.
The police have also issued a look out circular (LOC) against Basoya, who is on the run. The police suspect that Basoya is a part of an international syndicate which has given different works to different people.
Majority of syndicate members do not know each other and they were operating on the basis of code names on social media, the police sources said.
A senior police officer, who is privy to the investigations, said so far 700 kg of cocaine, worth over Rs 7,000 crore, has been recovered from the national capital so far.
The seizures are the part of same syndicate which which had brought consignment via sea route to Goa from South American countries.
It is suspected some more such consignments are kept or already transported to other destinations, the officer said.
He said the police teams are conducting raids at various parts of Delhi and NCR and trying to nab the other co-accused of the drug syndicate.
#WATCH | Delhi Police Special Cell has recovered a consignment of cocaine from a closed shop in Ramesh Nagar. About 200 kg of drugs have been recovered, whose value in the international market is more than Rs 2,000 crore. This drug was kept in packets of namkeen: Delhi Police… pic.twitter.com/B45xgz1Afp
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
