Lockdown-hit techie, bizman took to drug trade to make quick buck

Amit Sharma

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 20

The two suspects, including an engineer, nabbed by the UT police for their involvement in an international drug racket, claimed to have entered the illegal trade after they suffered losses during the Covid-induced lockdown in 2020. Suspect N Jaffer Shariff (28) is a engineer, who was into the business of selling laptops, while the other suspect, Vijay Kumar (41), was into the business of gemstones.

A police official said Jaffer was operating his business from Burma Bazaar in Chennai. “Jaffer claimed that he suffered losses during the pandemic. So, to make a quick buck, he became a part of the drug cartel,” said an official.

The probe has revealed that Jaffer had hired Vijay and Ashfaq Rahman (36), who was arrested earlier, as carriers.

The police said Vijay too had suffered losses in his business. Jaffer disclosed that Sikander, also a resident of Chennai, used to provide drugs to him and bear all expenses, including packaging the courier, flight tickets and international courier charges. “Sikander bore all expenses and paid money to Jaffer for the job. The crockery in which the drug was concealed, was also purchased by Sikander,” the police said. Jaffer claimed that he used to get Rs3 lakh per kg for the consignment to be sent through courier.

The police are now on the lookout for Sikander, whose arrest, they say, will further provide the link to the deep-rooted illegal drug trade.

Meanwhile, Jaffer and Vijay were produced in a court and remanded in police custody till May 24.

The police said the role of a local person, who had helped the suspect in getting the consignment containing drugs released from the city railway station, had come under the scanner. Consignments were sent twice to the city from Chennai by train. The suspect is at large since May 13. Ashfaq Rahman was arrested while he was allegedly trying to send a consignment of 10.24-kg cocaine worth Rs100 crore, concealed in wooden trays, to Australia through a courier.

The police today served a notice on the Fedex courier company to join the probe and provide information about the courier with drugs concealed in healthcare equipment that was sent to Australia in April. “We have told the company to trace the courier, which is yet to be delivered, and get it back for further investigation,” said a police official. The police said around 10 kg drugs were concealed in the courier, weighing around 150 kg.

Made several trips abroad before pandemic

Suspect N Jaffer Shariff (28) is a engineer, who was into the business of selling laptops, while the other suspect, Vijay Kumar (41), was into the business of gemstones. Jaffer’s travel history has revealed that he had made several trips to Malaysia and Singapore before the pandemic.

‘Sikander used to bear all expenses’

N Jaffer Shariff, a suspect arrested in the case, has named Sikander, who used to provide the drugs to him and bear all expenses, including packaging of the courier, flight tickets and international courier charges.

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