Rs 1 crore/month cocaine sales in Vasant Kunj: Diary exposes Delhi drug cartel’s secrets; black helmets, code names & WhatsApp orders

NEW DELHI: A diary recovered during the raids on the cocaine ring appears to have exposed the nitty-gritty of drug sales in Delhi-NCR, besides revealing the hotspots where the contraband was sold to youngsters.

The diary, in which everyday drug sales were recorded by the cartel members, reveals that an area like Vasant Kunj, for example, had average sales of around Rs 1 crore every month.The presence of "delivery boys" was recorded in Noida and Gurgaon, besides Saket, Vasant Kunj, Qutub Institutional Area, Chhatarpur, Vasant Vihar, Malviya Nagar, Moti Nagar and Punjabi Bagh, among others, sources said.

Explaining how the cartel operated, special commissioner (crime) Devesh Srivastava said that the syndicate operated a call centre-like setup in Nigeria, where Indian customers placed orders on WhatsApp numbers, and delivery of drugs was ensured via their local delivery boys located closest to the customer.

Each delivery agent had his own area of operation. For example, a mule code-named "Tall Guy" delivered cocaine and MDMA in Saket, while another named Victor was selling to youngsters in Vasant Kunj.They used to receive WhatsApp calls from Nigeria from a UK number and were instructed with the quantity of the drugs to be delivered and the number of the car of the customer, along with the location. "Based on the information, he delivered the drugs and collected payments.

He was to reach a specific place at a given time to deliver collected cash and receive fresh drug stock," additional CP Mangesh Kashyap said.The interrogation of suspects also revealed that the delivery agents followed a dress code—typically a checked shirt and black helmet—for discreet identification during handovers.If one delivery boy got arrested, he was replaced by a new one, as the customer's data and the number on which customers called remained with the Nigerian handlers, leaving cops in a fix.A few cartel owners operated kitchens in Chattarpur and other areas, which doubled up as drug stores to replenish the peddlers. The proceeds were handed over to supervisors near the jal board office in Vasant Kunj, the accused disclosed.Investigation revealed that the cartel adulterated pure cocaine in a 1:4 ratio to produce street-grade cocaine, selling it at huge profits. "The two bricks of cocaine recovered from him would have yielded around 8 kg of cocaine worth over 80 crore in the international market," said DCP (crime) Harsh Indora.

The mixing of chemicals helped increase the quantity as well as the potency of the cocaine. It also raised the reliance of the consumer on this specific cocaine, cops said.The cartel's customers were not only college students but middle-aged businessmen and private firm managers/executives too. "As the cartel supplied only cocaine and MDMA, they had a very niche customer base because both drugs are expensive. The end user was paying up to Rs 15,000 for a gram of cocaine. Similarly, 1 gram of MD crystals was being sold for around Rs 6,000," said a source."Both the drugs are highly addictive," the source explained.The tentacles of this network were spread to Goa, Chennai and Bengaluru as well.