With the arrest of three foreign nationals, including a woman and a man from Nigeria and another woman from Sierra Leone, the Delhi Police Special Cell claimed to have busted an international drug cartel.

The police have recovered from their possession 6 kg of hypnotic drug methaqualone and 2 kg of heroin worth more than Rs 40 crore in the international market.

All three arrested accused have been booked for violation of the offences of cheating, impersonation, forgery, preparation, and possession of forged documents under the IPC and for illegally staying in the country under the Foreigners Act.

Acting on a tipoff, a raiding party comprising women police personnel of the Special Cell laid a trap near Shiv Murti, Rangpuri at about 7.30 pm for two women drug traffickers of African origin based in Delhi, namely Paul Joy and Peace Ilobe. As expected, they were spotted near the entrance of the Shiv Murti premise with black backpacks and were immediately intercepted by the raiding party.

During the search, the police team recovered 5.032 kg of methaqualone from the possession of the duo. A criminal case under the provisions of the NDPS Act was registered at PS Special Cell against the accused.

During interrogation, the two women disclosed that they procured the consignment of methaqualone from a Delhi-based African national, Stephen, who stayed at Mohan Garden in the Uttam Nagar area of the national capital. After the revelation, he too was arrested on Tuesday.

After the arrest of Stephen, the kingpin in the case, 1.012 kg more methaqualone was recovered from him along with 2.058 kg of heroin.

A police official said after thorough questioning, the trio disclosed that they were active in drug trafficking for more than two years. Both the women revealed that they were involved in carrying drugs to Bangalore and Mumbai from Delhi-NCR while Stephen would take a route via Ahmadabad by inter-state buses. After delivering the consignment they would take flights back to Delhi as they were operating from Dhaula Kuan, Shiv Murti, or IFFCO Chowk in Gurugram.

The three accused, who are illegally residing in India, have been identified as 29-year-old Paul Joy from Sierra Leone, Peace Ilobe from Nigeria, and Stephen also from Nigeria. The women had arrived in India in 2019 and 2021, respectively, on medical visas, which expired in both cases.

All three of them were currently staying at around the Vikas Puri and Uttam Nagar areas on rent.

Further investigation into the matter is underway, the police said.