WhatsApp Chitta racket: Shimla police arrest apple trader for running heroin cartel
WhatsApp Chitta racket: The drug orders were generated over WhatsApp, supplies were launched, and delivery was completed; however, the delivery person and the end receiver never met. In fact, people in the demand and supply chain operated as unrelated units.
Shahi Mahatma, or Shashi Negi, an apple trader in the upper Shimla region ran an interstate 'chitta' (adulterated heroin) racket for 5 to 6 years, evading enforcement agencies by keeping the dots so far apart that they couldn't be joined to reach him. Negi remained the only link between the demand and supply chains in his 'chitta'.
But he ran out of luck on September 20, a day after the police made this year's biggest haul in Shimla, 465 gm of 'chitta' from Kharapathar.
"Links of the accused Mudasir Ahmed Mochi, a resident of Bhatpura village in Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir (who was arrested on September 19) were established with Shahi Mahatma alias Shashi Negi and the kingpin was arrested," Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi, Shimla SP stated.
Gandhi claimed Negi and his 40 associates were supplying drugs in the Rohru, Jubbal-Kotkhai, and Theog areas of Upper Shimla under the guise of an apple business, and he had connections to Nigerian drug gangs in New Delhi, Haryana, and Kashmir.
Gandhi explained Negi's gang's method of operation, saying he ensured the drugs being transported changed hands four times before arriving at their destination. He used other unrelated groups of people to bring in demand, deliver drugs, and take payments.
He never had direct communication with any of the partners, Gandhi stated.
The demand for drugs was generated through WhatsApp groups, and following verification of the drug user, it was passed on to Negi, who had another team to provide the drugs.
Gandhi further stated that at the final handover, the delivery person would keep the drug in a secure location and send a video to the buyer, who would pick it up from there.
- With inputs from agencies
