Chaiwalla-turned-druglord Akshay Chhabra to cool heels in Dibrugarh jail
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 17
The law has finally caught up with chaiwalla-turned-druglord Akshay Chhabra, who will now cool his heels in Assam’s Dibrugarh Jail. He, along with his accomplice Jaspal Singh, alias Goldy, was on Saturday sent to one-year detention by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Chandigarh, under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act.
From a chaiwalla to the owner of over Rs 100-crore properties in just three years, Chhabra, who hails from Ludhiana, would often hang out with the who’s who of Punjab’s wealthiest town. As his luck ran out and he landed in the NCB net, the huge fortune he made in a short time, allegedly with ill-gotten gains, has been attached and will soon be auctioned.
According to NCB officials, Chhabra is accused of running an international drug syndicate. He had allegedly smuggled close to 1,400 kg of heroin from the ICP, Attari; Mundra Sea Port, Gujarat; and Jammu and Kashmir. His syndicate never dealt in small quantity of drugs like the ones dropped via drones in Punjab’s fields along the Pakistan border. Instead, he sourced heroin from Afghanistan in cans of tomato sauce or bottles of pomegranate juice imported by Indian traders from Iran, official sources said on condition of anonymity.
The NCB found heroin hidden in 612 cans of tomato sauce imported from Afghanistan, officials added. These had special markings to distinguish them from other cans. The NCB also found heroin in 350 bottles of juice imported from Iran.
Chhabra used to run a tea stall at the Ludhiana grain market with his parents until 2019. Then he came in contact with some smugglers and never looked back.
Giving him company in his detention in Dibrugarh is his aide Goldy, a carpenter whose expertise in creating cavities for hiding drugs has become legendary. Evidently, Goldy built closets and cupboards within closets and cupboards in houses and commercial establishments owned by Chhabra, a feat which has left investigating officers dumbfounded. “The cavities he created were far more creative than what we see in films,” said an official.
The NCB, rather than the Punjab Police, has taken the lead in launching a tough action against the “big fish” of the drug trade. On the other hand, the Punjab Government is yet to approve the detention of 18 smugglers recommended by the state police. The Special Task Force (STF) against drugs had moved the cases to the Home Department, which, as per latest information, has sought additional details about the smugglers.
A total of 20 suspects have been arrested by the NCB in this case, including the kingpin, traffickers, white-collar criminals and two Afghan nationals. The NCB has seized around 40 kg of heroin, 0.557 kg of opium, 23.645 kg of suspected narcotics powder, four bottles of HCL, 31 live bullets and one magazine. The smugglers had hired the Afghan nationals to increase the quantity of smuggled drugs. They would mix caffeine and intoxicant powders in the drugs for higher profits.
The NCB got a breakthrough after it nabbed a Ludhiana resident, Sandeep, alias Deepa, on November 15, 2022. His grilling led to the arrest of Chhabra and his aides. It was the arrest of Goldy that led to the unearthing of huge quantity of drugs.
