NEW DELHI: A months-long intelligence operation by India’s top narcotics and policing agencies culminated this week in one of the largest methamphetamine seizures ever recorded in New Delhi a haul so vast that investigators say it exposes a far-flung trafficking network operating quietly across state borders and under foreign direction.
A Seizure That Reframed the Investigation
When officers from the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Delhi Police Special Cell forced their way into a rented house in Chhatarpur late last week, they believed they were conducting a routine follow-up raid tied to a synthetic drug lead. What they found instead was a meticulously stocked storage hub: nearly 328 kilograms of high-grade methamphetamine, sealed in commercial-grade packets and stacked in compact modules across multiple rooms.
Investigators estimate the value of the seized contraband at approximately ₹262 crore, a scale that immediately prompted senior officials to reassess the contours of the network they were pursuing. Far from a local distribution cluster, officials now believe the operation was a node in a larger transnational supply chain controlled by foreign handlers already under global scrutiny.
The house belonged to Esther Kinimi, a woman from Nagaland who had been living quietly in Delhi’s Chhatarpur Enclave Phase-2. She was arrested on the spot with technical support from the Nagaland Police.
Mapping a Network That Spans Cities and Borders
The discovery, officials say, was not an isolated breakthrough but the result of months of surveillance, covert communication intercepts and pattern-tracking across logistics platforms. One arrest proved central to the unraveling: Shane Waris, a 25-year-old sales manager from Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, was picked up from Noida’s Sector 5. According to investigators, Waris allegedly coordinated movements of drug consignments under the direction of a foreign-based handler, communicating through WhatsApp, Zangi and a rotating set of fake SIM cards.
During questioning, Waris provided a series of leads phone numbers, drop-locations, and contact points including information that directed teams to Kinimi’s residence in Delhi. Authorities now believe the group served as intermediaries for a still-absconding cartel boss who is also wanted in connection with an 83-kilogram cocaine seizure in Delhi last year.
Beyond the arrests, investigators are now tracing what they describe as the “financial skeleton” of the network: informal money routes, shell buyers, short-term warehouse rentals and courier chains that moved consignments across states under the cover of legitimate goods.
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A Cartel Built on Digital Smoke Screens and Safe Houses
Officials familiar with the operation describe a syndicate adept at exploiting gaps in India’s expanding logistics ecosystem. Surveillance teams, reviewing communication data, observed a blend of low-visibility movements — small parcels, staggered transit points, anonymized route orders — that allowed the group to avoid attracting attention.
The use of multiple safe houses, disposable phone numbers, encrypted apps and curated online identities suggests a high level of operational discipline. Intercepts show that instructions often came from foreign servers, routed in ways that masked geolocation signatures. The cartel’s reliance on everyday delivery infrastructure, investigators say, was intentional.
“They used the scale of India’s e-commerce movement as camouflage,” one senior official said, noting that consignments were often disguised as ordinary personal shipments.
Authorities are now reviewing logistics trails to determine how much of the cartel’s product may already have moved into domestic consumption channels or been prepped for overseas transit.
A Breakthrough, but Not the End
The joint operation formally codenamed Operation Crystal Fortress marks one of the most significant methamphetamine recoveries ever made in the national capital. But officials caution against viewing the arrests as the final chapter.
Preliminary findings point to a larger drug-trafficking network run by foreign operatives, one that spans multiple Indian states and maintains stable offshore communication hubs. India’s narcotics agencies have begun coordinating with international counterparts to track the suspected mastermind and push for his deportation to India.
