Delhi Police bust Nigerian-run drug syndicate; drugs worth ₹5 cr seized
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi Police has busted an international drug-trafficking syndicate operated by Nigerians with the arrest of two foreign nationals and seizure of cocaine and MDMA worth around Rs 5 crore, an officer said on Sunday.
The arrests were made by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch in a coordinated operation carried out in different parts of the city.
Police seized 418 grams of cocaine and 925 tablets of MDMA, also known as ecstasy, during the operation.
According to police, the Crime Branch was closely monitoring the activities of drug suppliers active in Delhi.
"On December 2 last year, the unit received specific information that a Nigerian national, previously involved in NDPS cases, had resumed supplying psychotropic substances in south Delhi," the police officer said.
A team launched technical and manual surveillance and the suspect was found to be constantly changing his locations across south and southwest Delhi to evade detection, he added.
"The team conducted a raid and arrested Frank Vitus Ume, recovering a substantial quantity of cocaine and MDMA tablets from his possession. A case under the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act was registered and further investigation taken up," the officer said.
During interrogation, Ume disclosed that he was part of an organised drug-supply network operating in Delhi and adjoining states. A technical analysis of his mobile phone and further investigation led police to another Nigerian national, Sunday Otuu, who was residing in the Mehrauli area.
Otuu was arrested from his rented accommodation and 15 ecstasy tablets were seized from his possession. Police said Otuu was supplying drugs to Ume and acting as a link between the local distributor and the kingpin based in Nigeria.
Investigations revealed that the syndicate used WhatsApp numbers registered abroad and avoided direct contact between handlers and couriers to evade law-enforcement agencies. The drugs were reportedly delivered through intermediaries, including a woman, a foreign national based in Delhi, police said.
According to police, both accused came to India on business visas several years ago and later, became involved in drug trafficking due to financial difficulties.
Further investigation is on to identify the other members of the syndicate and trace the source of the narcotics, the officer added.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
