Varanasi: A joint team of Chopan police and the Special Operations Group arrested six suspected drug traffickers near the Baskatwa railway bridge on Monday and recovered 1.204 kg of heroin worth around Rs 2.4 crore from two vehicles. Police said the accused were allegedly bringing the contraband from Lucknow for retail sale in Sonbhadra, particularly Anpara and Obra.The operation was carried out under “Operation Shuddhi”. Acting on information about traffickers arriving from Robertsganj, police intercepted a Varanasi-registered car and a Gautam Budh Nagar-registered SUV. They recovered 696 grams of heroin from the SUV and 508 grams from the car, besides six mobile phones and Rs 1,550 cash.The vehicles, valued at around Rs 34 lakh, were also seized under the Motor Vehicles Act after valid documents could not be produced.SP Abhishek Verma identified the accused as Ayush Jaiswal, Dharmveer, Sudhir Kumar alias Chhotu, Suraj alias Abhishek and Jitendra Kumar, all residents of Dala, and Deepak Sahu of Purvi Parasi in Anpara.A case was registered under the NDPS Act and the accused were sent to court. During questioning, they said they pooled money to buy heroin from Lucknow and supplied it in Sonbhadra. Police are investigating the wider network.Sudhir has four previous NDPS cases, Suraj three, and Jitendra two cases related to theft, assault and other offences. Dharmveer also has a case under BNS provisions at Babhani police station.
