Mumbai: Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has secured the deportation of Naveen Chichkar, who allegedly headed an international drug syndicate from Malaysia. His father, builder Gurunath Chichkar (50), had died by suicide after shooting himself in the head in his Belapur office in April, citing mental stress caused by repeated summons by NCB and police into the involvement of his two sons — Naveen and Dheeraj — in drug trade.Naveen, who studied film and television courses as well as criminal psychology in London, was running the cartel’s operations while staying outside the country, NCB said. The cartel smuggled in cocaine and hybrid strain hydroponic weed via air cargo shipments from the US. “From Mumbai, the drugs were distributed across the country…the cartel was also re-exporting them to foreign markets, including Australia,” an officer said.It all started with the seizure of 200gm of cocaine hidden in a projector being sent to Australia through courier in Jan, leading to the arrest of eight persons. Till date, Navi Mumbai police have arrested 11 accused, including two cops and a postal service employee as part of a related probe. “…the kingpin, who located himself in Thailand in 2021 after absconding from an NCB case related to LSD trafficking, was located in Malaysia. He has been brought to India…The syndicate was operating for at least 1 year, and multiple cocaine consignments to air cargo were received in Mumbai…,” stated NCB. — S Ahmed Ali