Dubai-based Indian drug trafficker, Pawan Thakur, has been arrested and will be soon deported to India, according to officials. He is a mastermind behind Dubai’s biggest cocaine rackets which the officials busted in 2024.
Pawan Thakur will be deported to India
Dubai-based Indian drug trafficker, Pawan Thakur, has been arrested and will be soon deported to India, according to officials. He is a mastermind behind Dubai’s biggest cocaine rackets which the officials busted in 2024.
What are the accusations on Pawan Thakur?
He is also considered the prime culprit behind the smuggling of nearly 82 kg of high-grade cocaine estimated to be Rs 2,500 crore, which was confiscated in Delhi in November last year. Investigators revealed that the smuggled consignment was transported through an Indian port before after which it was delivered via truck to the capital, to be stored in a warehouse for distribution.
Early this week, Delhi’s anti-drugs body, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) confiscated meth drugs which were found from his possession and worth Rs 282 crore. NCB Officials state that Thakur was involved in hawala and money laundering business for a long-time.
How did the authorities trace his smuggling empire?
Officials also said that the black money made from the drug trade travelled via a massive ‘hawala’ system, along with the use of cryptocurrency transactions and establishing cross-border shell companies in India, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE.
In September this year, the anti-drugs body had issued a silver Notice against him through Interpol. Due to this notice, international law enforcement agencies are equipped with power to track his assets, businesses, and financial operations. In a big operation against him and to track smuggled drugs, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at his locations and froze 118 of his mule accounts.
