From correspondents in Punjab, India, 10:00 PM IST

Sleuths of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Thursday arrested a man and recovered from him four kg of heroin, worth Rs.40 million in the international market.

Liakat Ali alias Lakhwinder Singh, 34, was nabbed with the contraband wrapped in a polythene bag near the Chandigarh airport. He had gone there to deliver the packet to a Nigerian who, however, failed to turn up, NCB officials said.

'A close-knit network of heroin traffickers is run by a group based in Pakistan and their kingpin is a Pakistani national who is at present lodged in a Punjab jail,' NCB zonal director Saji Mohan told mediapersons.

'They bring this heroin via Amritsar. Some Nigerians are the main buyers who further take it to European markets,' he said.

During interrogation, Ali, a resident of Behlana village near here, told NCB officials that he had got this consignment Wednesday from Bittu who came from Amritsar. Ali, a drug addict, came in contact with drug traffickers when he was lodged in Patiala jail five years ago, the officials said.

'We are keeping a close watch on the activities of that Pakistan national and of the Nigerian who was expected to come to receive this consignment,' Mohan said.

NCB, however, did not disclose the identity of the Pakistani and Nigerian nationals.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)