Two Delhi NCB investigators win award for exposing Mexican darknet cartel

New Delhi, Nov 1 (IANS) Two investigators of the Delhi Zonal Unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have won recognition from the Ministry of Home Affairs for their efforts in busting cases involving the Mexican Zambada Cartel, the largest and highest-rated darknet vendor in India, a statement said on Friday.

Inspector Chetan Sharma and Inspector Sachin Kumar of Delhi Zonal Unit were awarded the Union Home Minister's Medal for Excellence in investigation for 2024 as they retrieved evidence from darknet forums, decoded encrypted messaging apps like Wickr Me, Session, Jabber and established crypto-currency transaction chains to successfully link Zambada cartel members to their real-world identity.

It was also the operation where the largest number of LSD blots (29,013) were seized in India, said Anand Prakash Tiwari, Deputy Director General (Special Wing), NCB, in the statement.

In all, NCB’s 14 officers have been awarded the Home Minister's Medal for Excellence for the year 2024 – nine for conducting Special Operations and five for excellence in investigation.

The Special Operations Medal has been awarded to nine officers for conducting Operation Sagarmanthan-1 in February, in which a total of 3,272 kg of drugs including charas (hashish), heroin and methamphetamine were seized from an Iranian fishing vessel off the coast of Porbandar in coordination with officers of Indian Navy and Gujarat Police.

Gyaneshwar Singh, DDG (OEC), S.D. Jambotkar (Additional Director, Ops), Sagar Pratap Kaushik (Assistant Director, OPS), Sandeep (Inspector), Yogendra Singh (Inspector), Pratham Rathee (SI), Mohit Kumar (Asst), Navnit Kumar and Akhil Remesh have been awarded Dakshata Padak for the operation for excellence in planning and execution of the operation in coordination with other agencies.

Medal for excellence in the investigation has also been awarded to Aravind M.R., Superintendent (Ops), NCB Headquarters, for his role in dismantling an international pseudoephedrine trafficking syndicate spread across Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and India, in which five persons including a Tamil Film producer was also arrested in February.

Aravind’s investigation earned accolades from the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime (UNODC), International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) and major investigative agencies like the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), USA, Australian Federal Police (AFP), Australia and New Zealand Police.

The Dakshata Padak for investigation has also been awarded to Murari Lal, SI of NCB, Bangalore, for unravelling linkages due to which an entire cocaine trafficking network involving foreign nationals spread across the country could be identified.

Akshay Hunurkar, Inspector of NCB, Chennai, also won the Dakshata Padak for his investigation to bust an international drug trafficking network involved in maritime drug trafficking between India and Sri Lanka across the Palk Strait, the statement said.

--IANS

rch/uk