Two held for running drug racket from inside Tihar

New Delhi, Jun 29 (UNI) In a major breakthrough, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) today claimed to have busted a drug syndicate being run from high security Tihar jail here inloving sale of Afghan heroin, once again proving that despite international efforts the 'Golden Crescent' continues to produce drugs.

According to NCB, the racket was busted with the arrest of two women, including a Nigerian national and an Indian national from Uttam Nagar in West Delhi last night.The heroin seized is said to be worth Rs 4 crore in the international market.

It is alleged that one of the accused Anju Tiwari's husband Krishan Kumar Tiwari, lodged in Tihar jail in kidnapping and extortion cases, was the main kingpin of the racket along with some other alleged Nigerian drug traffickers.

The duo were caught while exchanging a consignment of four kg of Afghanistan heroin worth Rs four crore in the international market.

USD 30,000 were also recovered from their possession.

Anju and the Nigerian woman used to visit the jail every Monday and Thursday where they were briefed by Tiwari and his Nigerian fellow inmates. The syndicate was formed after Tiwari got in touch with the alleged drug traffickers currently lodged in Tihar jail.

The Golden Crescent is the name given to Asia's principal area of illicit opium production, located at the crossroads of Central, South, and Western Asia. This space overlaps three nations, Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, whose mountainous peripheries define the crescent.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime heroin production estimates for the past 10 years show significant changes in the primary source areas. Heroin production in Southeast Asia declined dramatically, while heroin production in Southwest Asia expanded. In 1991, Afghanistan became the world's primary opium producer, with a yield of 1,782 metric tonne, surpassing Myanmar, formerly the world leader in opium production. The decrease in heroin production from Myanmar is the result of several years of unfavorable growing conditions and new government policies of forced eradication. Afghan heroin production increased during the same time frame, with a notable decrease in 2001 reportedly as a result of the Taliban's fatwa against heroin production.

Afghanistan now produces over 90 per cent of the world's opium.

UNI NAB AKJ VC1915