Dubai-based Indian drug trafficker Pawan Thakur arrested, likely to be deported to India

Pawan Thakur, the Dubai-based Indian drug trafficker, has been arrested in Dubai, sources informed. Thakur is likely to be deported to India soon.

Meanwhile, Thakur is believed to be the mastermind behind the meth drugs worth ₹282 crore that the NCB seized in Delhi just two days ago. 

In addition, Thakur is also reportedly the mastermind behind the Rs 2,500-crore cocaine racket uncovered in Delhi last November. 

The NCB has issued a Silver Notice via Interpol against him in September. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also carried out raids at his locations and froze 118 of his mule accounts.

The Narcotics Control Bureau had confirmed issuing a silver notice against Thakur. “The NCB, in close coordination with the Interpol, has successfully published a first Silver Notice and that is against an accused named Pawan Thakur,” the agency had said in a statement.

The agency added that the Dubai-based drug trafficker is a “fugitive” and the “mastermind” behind the import, export, and trafficking of cocaine seized in last November in Delhi, it said. “He arranged for the consignment’s import through an Indian port and facilitated its onward movement to Delhi by road.

“His associates managed warehousing and custodianship of the contraband in Delhi, while he personally mediated among handlers to ensure smooth distribution,” the NCB said.

The NCB alleged that Thakur operates a “hawala” network with bases in Dubai and Delhi, channelling illicit funds and laundering proceeds of narcotics trafficking into the formal financial system through his associates.

He is currently residing in Dubai and continues to operate his narcotics trafficking and money laundering syndicate from there, it said.

The NCB has filed a chargesheet against Thakur before a court in Delhi. Officials told PTI that he is understood to have been based in Dubai since 2019.