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Police swoop nets $1m of heroin

International operation: A police swoop has resulted in $1m of heroin being seized in Bermuda

Around $1 million of heroin has been seized after an international sting operation, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

A parcel of heroin, which originated in India before travelling through London and on to Bermuda, was grabbed by police after being collected at Warwick post office on Thursday afternoon.

It is understood that police in the UK tipped off their Bermudian counterparts after the heroin was identified in London — and it was allowed to travel on to its final destination.

The parcel was picked up at Warwick post office. Later the same afternoon police swooped on a house in Warwick and detained a woman in connection with the enquiry.

Sources told The Royal Gazette the parcel originated in Mumbai and went through the postal system to London, where it was identified as suspect and checked.

The discovery led to a link-up between police in London and Bermuda and the eventual seizure of a package.

Police did not respond to a request for comment last night.

Mumbai is the biggest international drug smuggling centre in India, according to the country’s National Crime Record Bureau’s latest statistics, released this month.

The drugs come into India from Afghanistan — a major centre for opium poppy growing, the raw material for heroin — and Pakistan for onward shipment to Europe and North America.

The latest drugs haul is one of the biggest in recent times.

Police seized $1.5 million worth of heroin in February, 2013 at the airport and in 2011, cannabis worth an estimated $3.4 million was seized from a yacht.

But the biggest drugs seizure in Bermuda’s history was $48 million in cocaine, although none of it was destined to have been sold on the streets of Bermuda.

Latvian yacht skipper Janis Zegelis was jailed for 25 years for drugs offence and possession of a gun and ammunition after he had to put into Bermuda for repairs in 2011 while en route from Trinidad to his homeland.

The court, however, accepted that there was no evidence that Zegelis had intended to sell any of the drugs on the Island.