The alleged kingpin of an international drug cartel, Vijay Giri alias Vicky Goswami, has been extradited to the US from Kenya along with three associates, including a Pakistani.
Goswami, believed to be married to former Bollywood actor Mamta Kulkarni, was arrested in Mombassa in 2014 following a sting operation by Kenyan cops and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). He was released on bail on the condition that he would stay in the country until a local court de cided on an extradition request by the US.
The others extradited by the Kenyan authorities on Tuesday are locals Ibrahim and Baktash Akasha, sons of a slain drug baron, and Gulam Hussein, a Pakistani national. The men are accused of conspiring to import pure “white crystal” heroin into the US at a knock-down price of around $10,000 (Rs 6.75 lakh) a kg.
Goswami, son of a police officer from Gujarat, started out as a bootlegger in the 1980s. After graduating to smuggling mandrax, he fled to Mumbai while on bail after being arrested in a drug bust. Over the last two decades, he expanded his network to Dubai and Africa.
In India, he was recently linked to the massive seizure of raw materials for methamphetamine from a Solapur pharma unit.
