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In a major offensive against narco-financing, India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has frozen assets worth ₹9.20 crore connected to a high-profile amphetamine trafficking operation. The properties, seized under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1985, include a luxury apartment in Jaypee Greens and a factory unit in Kasna Industrial Area, both located in Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh.

These assets are believed to have been purchased using proceeds from international synthetic drug sales. The crackdown follows a joint operation by the NCB and Delhi Police Special Cell in October 2024, which uncovered an illicit amphetamine lab in Gautam Budh Nagar and resulted in the seizure of over 95 kilograms of the drug in solid and liquid form.

Investigators have identified a Delhi-based businessman as the operation’s mastermind, aided by four others, including a Tihar Jail warden and a Mexican national. All five suspects are currently in judicial custody. The financial trail linked the lab’s operations to the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG), a notorious Mexican drug cartel. Authorities discovered that the cartel funneled funds through cryptocurrency to Dubai, which were then transferred to India via hawala in three separate instalments.

Officials say this asset freeze represents a crucial step in dismantling the financial backbone of transnational drug syndicates. A senior NCB officer emphasized the agency’s resolve to not only bust drug networks but also target their financial infrastructure.

The agency has urged citizens to contribute to its anti-narcotics campaign by reporting suspicious activities through the MANAS – National Narcotics Helpline at 1933. Callers’ identities are kept strictly confidential.