NEW DELHI: Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has busted a major international drug trafficking network and seized captagon, a highly addictive psychotropic substance used by Islamic State operatives in West Asia, which gave it the name, ‘jihadi drug’. This is India’s first-ever seizure of captagon.The mega operation resulted in the arrest of a Syrian national, Alabras Ahmad, and recovery of 227.7kg of captagon tablets and powder, worth around Rs 182 crore. Primarily containing fenethylline and amphetamine, captagon is heavily regulated under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.Posting on X, Union home minister Amit Shah called the seizure and arrest “shining examples” of the govt’s commitment to zero tolerance of drugs.
I repeat we will clamp down on every gram of drugs entering India or leaving the country using our territory as the transit route,” Shah wrote.The breakthrough came in Delhi on May 11, after NCB acted on actionable intelligence provided by a foreign drug law enforcement agency indicating that India was being used as a transit zone for the drug. NCB sleuths identified and raided a rented residential property in south Delhi’s Neb Sarai, which led to the initial recovery of 31.5kg of Captagon tablets.The contraband was found meticulously concealed inside a commercial chapati-cutting machine, which preliminary probe revealed was to be exported to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. Ahmad, who was managing logistics here, had rented the Delhi hideout. He had entered India on a tourist visa in Nov 2024, which expired in Jan 2025.Following his interrogation, the focus of the operation shifted to Gujarat. On May 14, NCB intercepted a suspicious cargo container at Mundra port. The container was shipped from Syria with sheep wool declared as its official consignment. But a physical examination of the cargo exposed three hidden bags containing 196.2kg high-grade Captagon powder.Investigators also established that this massive consignment was intended for transshipment to destination markets across the Gulf region, where Captagon dependency has triggered severe law enforcement and public health crises.The operation, sources said, underscored how internatio-nal intelligence-sharing and multi-jurisdictional cooperation were vital to intercepting global cartels. It also pointed to an alarming trend of syndicates exploiting commercial maritime cargo and container routes, echoing a recent intercept in Mumbai where 349kg cocaine from Ecuador was found hidden in a shipping container.NCB has launched a wider probe into the syndicate’s procurement sources, financial and hawala networks, and global handlers, they said. The seized pills have the logo of two overlapping crescent moons. Sources said this appearance had led to the Arabic street slang, ‘Abu Hilalain’ (father of the two crescents), for the drug.