Cops go to Varanasi, nab UP’s most-wanted drug kingpin

Nagpur: Most-wanted drug dealer Aloke Kumar Singh walked into a trap laid by Nagpur rural crime branch in a pre-dawn action in the outskirts of Varanasi in the last week of January.Aloke Kumar Singh is considered a big fish in Uttar Pradesh’s narcotics trade with a reputation of being a key distributor of ganja in Chandauli and Gazipur districts of east UP.The Nagpur rural police, under the supervision of SP Nagpur (rural) Harssh A Poddar, arrested Singh in connection with the seizure of 500 kg marijuana on Nagpur-Chandrapur road in mid January. The crime branch had seized the consignment, which was on its way from Odisha to Uttar Pradesh.Police said Singh was operating a drug cartel since 2018, but was never arrested in connection with any narcotics case. He was held in 2016 though under Dowry Prohibition Act. In jail, he befriended a marijuana supplier and decided to work for the supplier. Singh subsequently managed to spread his network in multiple districts of UP, police said.On incidents leading to Singh’s arrest, SP Poddar said that a driver was arrested with 500 kg marijuana on the Nagpur-Chandrapur road in mid January. “The driver did not know the name of Aloke Singh, but knew him by face. The police used the driver as a ploy to trap Singh. In January last, Singh stepped into the police net in the outskirts of Varanasi, believing the driver had brought the consignment for delivery,” said Poddar.Singh is reportedly being quizzed by the Nagpur rural local crime branch to unearth the modus operandi of interstate gangs of marijuana smugglers and their wide network in other states.