Delhi Police made a fifth arrest Thursday following the seizure of over 500kg of cocaine this week - the largest ever recorded in the national capital and one valued at around Rs 2,000 crore. Special Cell cops arrested Jitendra Pal Singh, also known as Jassi, from the airport in Punjab's Amritsar as he was trying to flee to the United Kingdom, indicating a link between organised crime in that country and a pan-India network smuggling illegal drugs into this country. The cops were alerted to Singh's attempted escape - he has been living in the UK for the past 17 years as a 'permanent resident' - as they had issued a LOC, or look out circular, against him.
Singh, 40, is an Indian citizen who had flown in from London to supervise the cartel's operations in India. He was trying to return to the UK after cops seized the drugs and arrested four people. The authorities believe this particular drug syndicate - which operates out of Delhi and Mumbai in India - also has links to Dubai.
The name of an Indian citizen - Virendra Basoya, who now lives in the West Asian country - has been flagged during Delhi Police's interrogation of suspects. The Dubai Link Basoya - who cops believe could be one of the masterminds, if not the kingpin, behind this drug smuggling network - was arrested in an earlier unrelated case, but secured bail. Last year police from Maharashtra's Pune raided locations in Delhi and seized drugs worth Rs 3,000 crore, including 'meow meow', the street name for the synthet.