New Delhi, With the arrest of five persons, including four Ethiopian nationals, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has claimed to have dismantled a trans-national drugs syndicate active in the national capital.

Officials said that they have also recovered 7 kg of premium quality cocaine from the possession of the accused.

Following the arrests, the officials said that a new modus operandi was unearthed and it was also revealed that the kingpins of the racket staying in the country married Indian girls with the aim of staying beyond their visa period.

"These women, with whom the kingpins even have children, were being used for carrying, storing and harboring the drug consignments and traffickers," said a senior NCB official.

According to Gyaneshwar Singh, the Deputy Director General, Northern Region, NCB, based on specific inputs, NCB sleuths from the Delhi zonal unit searched a house in West Delhi's Tilak Nagar area from where they recovered 4.984 kg of cocaine hidden in a trolley bag.

"A 45-year-old woman, who had the trolley bag, was apprehended and on interrogation, it was revealed that the source of the contraband was from a hotel in Masjid Bandar in Mumbai," said Singh.

"Acting on the inputs, the NCB team nabbed two other syndicate members (both Ethiopian Nationals,) who had handed over the trolley bag containing cocaine to the woman," said Singh.

"After further investigation, two other syndicate members, who are also Ethiopian nationals, including a woman, were also apprehended from a hotel in Masjid Bandar, Mumbai, and two kg of cocaine was recovered in a similar trolley bag," said Singh.

"During the entire operation, a large amount of drug money was also recovered from the possession of the arrested persons. The seizure of approximately 7 kg cocaine led to the discovery of another new modus operandi wherein drug traffickers were using African citizens from the lower strata of the society as drug carriers and were switching airports based on their survey of vigil by law enforcement agencies," said Singh.

"The whole trip for the drug carriers was sponsored by the handlers controlling the syndicate from African nations. All the drug carriers arrested have been first time travellers to India," said Singh.

Earlier, the syndicate had held a meeting with a group of eight to 10 drug carriers in Ethiopia where the main handler had assigned roles and tasks to each of them to land drug consignments in India.

An official said that it was also revealed that some of the active syndicate members and carriers have landed in different cities in India and have delivered drug consignments to their counterparts here.

The syndicate was being managed by Nigerian drug traffickers, and the woman arrested from Delhi is the wife of one of the main kingpins of the racket.

"He was using his wife, a mother of three, as a local carrier who would facilitate the trans-shipment of cocaine from the drug mules in Mumbai to his residence in Delhi and further deliver the same to other kingpins in the city," said the official.