The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday busted an international cannabis smuggling racket operating through multiple courier services in Kolkata. NCB also seized 20 kg of what is said to be the world’s strongest marijuana, officials said.
The NCB Kolkata zonal unit found that ‘special green cannabis’ was being smuggled into India from the United States and Canada.
Officers from the NCB apprehended three persons, including two women, in connection with the international drug racket. The accused have been identified as Shraddha Surana (25), Tareena Bhatnagar (26) and Karan Kumar Gupta (30).
Based on a reliable input that ‘high-quality green cannabis’ was being smuggled into India from the US and Canada in huge quantities through courier services, the NCB Kolkata unit was keeping surveillance on various service providers in Kolkata for quite some time, officials said.
Between July 27 and July 30, the narcotics’ agency intercepted 42 foreign parcels delivered at the Foreign Post Office (FPO) in Kolkata under false declarations of cosmetics, toys, and games.
“This marijuana is the most expensive and strongest strain of marijuana in the world, and it is not available in our country. It has a very high THC [main psychoactive compound in cannabis] content of 19 per cent to 25 per cent,” said a police officer.
The accused revealed that they used a dark-net web platform to order the packages and have them delivered via courier service to avoid being caught by Drug Law Enforcement Field Officers (DLEO).
The inquiry also found that Shraddha Surana was running the entire drug trafficking operation under the guise of Simran Singh. A false aadhar card in Simran Singh’s name was also found in her possession.
While Tareena Bhatnagar was arrested for ordering three narcotic deliveries through Televend, the inquiry found that Karan Kumar Gupta was a delivery boy who carried out Shraddha Surana’s orders by transporting the parcels to several locations in Kolkata.
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Source: https://www.indiatoday.in/cities/kolkata/story/kolkata-ncb-busts-drug-racket-smuggling-worlds-strongest-marijuana-from-us-to-india-1835248-2021-08-01
