Kashmir Impulse Desk
New Delhi, Aug 14
India is stepping up efforts to track drug traffickers operating overseas and dismantle the networks supporting them, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday after the Narcotics Control Bureau brought alleged drug kingpin Virender Singh Basoya back from the United Arab Emirates.
Basoya, also known as Veeru and Basoya, was taken into custody after arriving at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport early on Friday, the NCB said.
He had been arrested in the UAE following an Interpol Red Corner Notice issued in June 2026 at the request of the NCB. His return was facilitated through coordination between Indian and UAE authorities.
Shah said the operation demonstrated that drug traffickers could not evade Indian law by operating from abroad.
The case originated in February 2024, when Pune police seized 500 grams of mephedrone. Investigators subsequently expanded the probe to identify the wider trafficking network.
Follow-up operations led to the seizure of about 867 kg of mephedrone in Pune and 970 kg in Delhi, bringing total seizures in the case to nearly 1,837 kg, according to the NCB.
The investigation was later transferred to the NCB’s Mumbai Zonal Unit.
Investigators identified Basoya as a key overseas-based operative and alleged conspirator who coordinated the syndicate’s activities from abroad and helped facilitate the movement of mephedrone consignments from India to other countries.
The NCB said the 970-kg Delhi consignment was allegedly being prepared for overseas shipment through courier channels linked to Basoya.
Investigators said his alleged role connected the network involved in manufacturing and trafficking drugs in India with distribution channels overseas.
Basoya’s name also emerged in a separate investigation by the Delhi Police Special Cell into an international cocaine-trafficking network.
In October 2024, the Special Cell dismantled a major syndicate and seized drugs from warehouses and other locations in Delhi, Hapur and Ghaziabad, as well as from a factory in Ankleshwar, Gujarat.
The operations resulted in seizures of more than 1,300 kg of cocaine, mephedrone and cannabis, including hydroponic cannabis, according to the NCB.
Investigators in that case allegedly identified Basoya’s role in sourcing, transporting, storing and distributing cocaine and other narcotics.
His repatriation is part of the NCB’s “Operation Global Hunt”, an initiative aimed at tracking major drug traffickers and fugitives operating from foreign jurisdictions.
The operation uses international law-enforcement mechanisms, including Interpol Red Corner Notices, alongside cooperation between Indian and foreign agencies.
The NCB said Operation Global Hunt had also helped bring back other wanted drug traffickers, including Mohammed Salim Dola from Türkiye and Naveen Chichkar from Malaysia.
The agency said returning fugitives to India for legal proceedings was also consistent with the government’s “Drug Prevention Manifesto” for 2026-2029.
Under the framework, Indian agencies are working with domestic and international partners to identify, trace and repatriate major drug fugitives, the NCB said.
The agency said it would continue targeting traffickers, financial facilitators, handlers and fugitives in India and abroad as part of the government’s stated zero-tolerance approach to narcotics trafficking.
