The Evening Wrap: NCB busts major drug trafficking network; arrests Nigerian kingpin, 7 others

A major drug trafficking network was busted with the arrest of eight persons, including a Nigerian national, and seizure of 34.89 kg of heroin, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said. Also, three women from African countries were detained, the NCB said. The Nigerian national, who had been running the alleged syndicate from Delhi and identified as the “kingpin”, has been arrested from Delhi. “The network was unearthed in a joint operation by the Delhi, Indore and Bengaluru zonal units, coordinated by the officials at NCB headquarters,” an official said. Based on inputs, officials of the NCB, Bengaluru, seized 7 kg of heroin, which was concealed in the false bottom of a suitcase of one female passenger coming from Zimbabwe to Bengaluru by flight at Kempegowda International Airport on May 24. She was held along with her female associate. During interrogation, the suspects disclosed that a similar bag had been kept at a lodge where they were staying. Subsequent searches led to the seizure of 6.89 kg of heroin concealed in the bag. Further probe into the network revealed that three more women passengers carrying similar consignments had boarded the Rajdhani Express in Bengaluru for Delhi. The NCB worked on the technical intelligence, zeroed in on carriers and found that they had got down near Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh. Following the leads, the Indore zonal team seized 21 kg of contraband from three trolley bags and arrested the three women from a lodge. Maharashtra reports first cases of B.A. sub-lineage of Omicron Maharashtra State health department confirmed that four patients of the B.A.4 variant and three cases of B.A.5 variant of the Omicron sub-lineage of coronavirus have been found in the State for the first time. All cases displayed mild symptoms and were treated at home, an official said. “The whole genome sequencing was conducted by the Institute of Science Education and Research, and its finding has been confirmed by the Indian Biological Data Centre in Faridabad. As many as seven patients, all from Pune, were detected with the infection of the sub-lineage of Omicron,” the official said. Of the seven patients, six are adults, who have all completed two doses of the vaccine, and one child, unvaccinated, according to the official. Their samples were taken between May 4 and 18. Two of them had travelled to South Africa and Belgium, while three had travelled to Kerala and Karnataka. The other two patients had no recent travel history. Fresh plea in Supreme Court challenges validity of sections of Places of Worship Act A fresh petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the validity of certain sections of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, alleging that they violate constitutional provisions, including those related to equality before law and prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. The plea said that by the 1991 Act, the Centre has declared that religious character of a place of worship and pilgrimage as it existed on August 15, 1947 shall continue and barred the remedy by way of suit with respect to such matter in any court. The petition, filed by Mathura-resident Devkinandan Thakur, has challenged the validity of sections 2, 3, 4 of the 1991 Act claiming that it takes away right of judicial remedy of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs to take back their places of worship and pilgrimage and property which belong to the deity. The plea alleged that the Centre has “transgressed its legislative power” by barring remedy of judicial review which is a basic feature of the Constitution. It also alleged that the Act is “void and unconstitutional” for many reasons and it infringes on the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs to manage, maintain and administer the places of worship and pilgrimage. Several other pleas, including the one filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, challenging the validity of certain provisions of the 1991 Act have already been filed in the apex court. India to face wider coal shortages, worsening power outage risks A wider coal shortage, worsening the risks of widespread power outages, is expected in India during the quarter ending September over expectations of higher power demand, Reuters reported citing an internal presentation of the Power Ministry. Local coal supply is expected to fall 42.5 million tonnes short of demand in the September quarter, 15% higher than previously projected, due to higher growth in power demand and lower output from some mines. The grim forecast shows the extent of the fuel shortage in India, at a time when annual power demand is seen growing at the fastest rate in at least 38 years and global coal prices are trading at near-record levels due to a supply crunch resulting from the Russia-Ukraine crisis. India has stepped up pressure on utilities to increase imports in recent days, warning of cuts to supply of domestically mined coal if power plants do not build up coal inventories through imports. However, one of the slides in the presentation showed that most States had yet to award contracts to import coal and that Indian utilities would run out of coal by July if no coal was imported. In Brief Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu unveiled a statue of former five-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu late M. Karunanidhi in Chennai. Karunanidhi’s son and current CM M.K.Stalin was also present during the occasion. The statue is now located at the campus of the multi super specialty government hospital at Omandurar Estate in Chennai, a few hundred metres away from the place where the original statue was vandalised 35 years ago in the wake of AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran’s death. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 28 MAY 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( NCB busts major drug trafficking network; arrests Nigerian kingpin, 7 others A [major drug trafficking network was busted with the arrest of eight persons]( including a Nigerian national, and seizure of 34.89 kg of heroin, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said. Also, three women from African countries were detained, the NCB said. The Nigerian national, who had been running the alleged syndicate from Delhi and identified as the “kingpin”, has been arrested from Delhi. “The network was unearthed in a joint operation by the Delhi, Indore and Bengaluru zonal units, coordinated by the officials at NCB headquarters,” an official said. [Heroin seized by the Narcotics Control Bureau during a pan-India operation on May 28, 2022. Photo: Twitter/@narcoticsbureau] Based on inputs, officials of the NCB, Bengaluru, seized 7 kg of heroin, which was concealed in the false bottom of a suitcase of one female passenger coming from Zimbabwe to Bengaluru by flight at Kempegowda International Airport on May 24. She was held along with her female associate. During interrogation, the suspects disclosed that a similar bag had been kept at a lodge where they were staying. Subsequent searches led to the seizure of 6.89 kg of heroin concealed in the bag. Further probe into the network revealed that three more women passengers carrying similar consignments had boarded the Rajdhani Express in Bengaluru for Delhi. The NCB worked on the technical intelligence, zeroed in on carriers and found that they had got down near Itarsi in Madhya Pradesh. Following the leads, the Indore zonal team seized 21 kg of contraband from three trolley bags and arrested the three women from a lodge. Maharashtra reports first cases of B.A. sub-lineage of Omicron Maharashtra State health department confirmed that [four patients of the B.A.4 variant and three cases of B.A.5 variant of the Omicron sub-lineage of coronavirus]( have been found in the State for the first time. All cases displayed mild symptoms and were treated at home, an official said. “The whole genome sequencing was conducted by the Institute of Science Education and Research, and its finding has been confirmed by the Indian Biological Data Centre in Faridabad. As many as seven patients, all from Pune, were detected with the infection of the sub-lineage of Omicron,” the official said. Of the seven patients, six are adults, who have all completed two doses of the vaccine, and one child, unvaccinated, according to the official. Their samples were taken between May 4 and 18. Two of them had travelled to South Africa and Belgium, while three had travelled to Kerala and Karnataka. The other two patients had no recent travel history. Fresh plea in Supreme Court challenges validity of sections of Places of Worship Act A [fresh petition has been filed in the Supreme Court]( challenging the validity of certain sections of the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, alleging that they violate constitutional provisions, including those related to equality before law and prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. The plea said that by the 1991 Act, the Centre has declared that religious character of a place of worship and pilgrimage as it existed on August 15, 1947 shall continue and barred the remedy by way of suit with respect to such matter in any court. The petition, filed by Mathura-resident Devkinandan Thakur, has challenged the validity of sections 2, 3, 4 of the 1991 Act claiming that it takes away right of judicial remedy of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs to take back their places of worship and pilgrimage and property which belong to the deity. The plea alleged that the Centre has “transgressed its legislative power” by barring remedy of judicial review which is a basic feature of the Constitution. It also alleged that the Act is “void and unconstitutional” for many reasons and it infringes on the rights of Hindus, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs to manage, maintain and administer the places of worship and pilgrimage. Several other pleas, including the one filed by BJP leader and advocate Ashwini Upadhyay, challenging the validity of certain provisions of the 1991 Act have already been filed in the apex court. India to face wider coal shortages, worsening power outage risks A [wider coal shortage, worsening the risks of widespread power outages]( is expected in India during the quarter ending September over expectations of higher power demand, Reuters reported citing an internal presentation of the Power Ministry. Local coal supply is expected to fall 42.5 million tonnes short of demand in the September quarter, 15% higher than previously projected, due to higher growth in power demand and lower output from some mines. The grim forecast shows the extent of the fuel shortage in India, at a time when annual power demand is seen growing at the fastest rate in at least 38 years and global coal prices are trading at near-record levels due to a supply crunch resulting from the Russia-Ukraine crisis. India has stepped up pressure on utilities to increase imports in recent days, warning of cuts to supply of domestically mined coal if power plants do not build up coal inventories through imports. However, one of the slides in the presentation showed that most States had yet to award contracts to import coal and that Indian utilities would run out of coal by July if no coal was imported. In Brief [Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu unveils a statue of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the Omandurar Government Super Speciality Hospital premises in Chennai on May 28, 2022. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin and other senior leaders look on. ] Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu [unveiled a statue of former five-time Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu late M. Karunanidhi]( in Chennai. Karunanidhi’s son and current CM M.K.Stalin was also present during the occasion. The statue is now located at the campus of the multi super specialty government hospital at Omandurar Estate in Chennai, a few hundred metres away from the place where the original statue was vandalised 35 years ago in the wake of AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran’s death. 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