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Drug ring busted in India: British cop held

BOMBAY: Indian narcotics agents said on Monday they had busted a major drug ring with the arrest of an Indian national serving in the British police force on charges of smuggling heroin worth more than a million dollars.

Shabir Rehman Abdul Mubarak, a 40-year-old Indian national, serves in the Lancashire country police force in northwest England under a special scheme for Commonwealth citizens.

"He was not just a carrier but seems to be big time. We arrested him along with his uncle Ñ a British national Ñ who had financed the deal," Ajay Ubale, regional director of the federal Narcotics Control Bureau told AFP.

Mubarak and his uncle were arrested on Friday at Bombay airport as they were about to board a flight to Dubai with 5.6 kilogrammes of pure heroin stashed in the false bottom and top of Mubarak's suitcase.

They were to board a flight to Manchester the next day.

Three other people Ñ all Indian nationals Ñ have been arrested and remanded in custody till February 28 pending further investigation.

"We have arrested an entire chain of people. The person who supplied him the heroin was arrested just as he was about to board a train to north India with part of the payment for the drugs," Ubale said.

"This the first time we have arrested a serving law enforcement officer of a foreign country on a drug-related change," he said, adding that Mubarak had been under surveillance for more than two years.

Investigators said they had found "meticulous accounts" of payments Mubarak had made in this and earlier drug deals. AFP