NEW DELHI: Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has busted a pharmaceutical unit in Uttarakhand, which was allegedly being used by an international cartel to manufacture captagon, a powerful psychotropic drug said to be widely used by Islamic State (IS) fighters.In a separate operation, NCB has arrested a Myanmar-based drug kingpin from Delhi who was long wanted for allegedly running a large narcotics trafficking network along the India-Myanmar border.The first crackdown, codenamed under Operation RAZEPILL, followed the recent arrest of a Syrian from south Delhi’s Neb Sarai and the seizure of 227 kg of captagon tablets and powder. During his interrogation, the foreigner revealed that the drug was illegally manufactured at the Dehradun-based pharma facility last Nov with the help of another Syrian. The factory owner allegedly rented it out for around Rs 50,000 per day for the illegal operation.NCB teams raided the factory premises and recovered the machinery used for manufacturing and packing the drug, along with large quantities of raw materials and chemicals. The factory owner was earlier linked to two other drug-related cases. He has been arrested.In the second case, the accused, Thancintuang alias Chintuang alias Tluanga, of Myanmar’s Chin State, is allegedly a key international supplier of methamphetamine and heroin and had been operating along the Myanmar-Mizoram-Manipur-Assam-Tripura corridor.Thancintuang was wanted in multiple NDPS cases registered by NCB and other drug law enforcement agencies and was allegedly linked to narcotics trafficking networks valued at nearly Rs 120 crore. He is the prime accused in a 2024 NCB case involving the seizure of 14 kg of methamphetamine and 2.8 kg of heroin near Dulte in Mizoram’s Khawzawl district, and another 2025 case involving the seizure of 49 kg of methamphetamine in Aizawl.The syndicate allegedly operated using transport coordinators, local facilitators and hawala channels. Several associates linked to the network, including hawala operators and logistics coordinators from Assam and Mizoram, have been arrested. NCB has frozen multiple bank accounts and properties allegedly linked to proceeds generated through drug trafficking.
