Some 12 years ago, she?d peddle small packets of brown sugar and heroin, while her husband worked on his drugland contacts. Today, she?s arguably the queen bee of the city?s underbelly. Meet Naseema Banu, alias Guriya, with underworld contacts spread across Bengal and Jharkhand.

Naseema, 30, would have remained elusive, but for the recent arrest of two criminals in Jharkhand. She was arrested on November 11 from a hideout in Howrah?s Jolapara Masjid Lane, on a tip-off from Md Babloo, alias Pappu, and Md Nizamuddin. The two highway gangsters from Jamshedpur often put up at her hideout while on the run.

But it?s not the duo alone. Some of the top names of the city?s crime world would also frequent her hideout, either to pass on arms or simply seek shelter. And that?s what has made Naseema a prize catch for the cops. ?Naseema had built up her contacts well. It?s too early, but we would like to interrogate her for more on the history-sheeters,? said Ajay Kumar, deputy commissioner of police (central).

In the face of interrogation, Naseema admitted to knowing some big names like Gudda and Nadeem, who would use her city hideout (in a small lane off the intersection of Syed Saleh Lane and Mahatma Gandhi Road) to pass on arms. A raid on her hideout yielded two improvised revolvers that she was to hand over to members of Md Babloo?s gang.

Married to Md Ramzani at 18, Naseema stepped into the world of drugs with her husband, an operator dealing in stuff from Barabanki, in Uttar Pradesh. After picking up the basics from her husband in a few years, Naseema took over the reins when her husband married her sister and deserted her.

After she decided to expand and set up a hideout in Howrah, close to her parents, Nasema came in contact with arms dealers of Howrah, for whom she worked several times.