Rs21,000 Crore Drug From Afghanistan Seized At Gujarat Port

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What has happened?

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on 15 September seized nearly 3,000 kg of heroin from Gujarat’s Mundra port — the largest consignment caught by the
DRI so far — sources in the agency told.
The high-quality contraband is estimated to be worth over Rs 21,000 crore in the international market.
“This is the first heroin shipment caught in Mundra port.
In the past year, the DRI has seized two large consignments of heroin at Navi Mumbai’s Nhava Sheva port — one last year, weighing 193 kg and the other seized this year in July, which weighed over 200 kg.
But the one seized at Mundra is the largest consignment caught by DRI so far,” a source in DRI claimed.

“The DRI, on 15 September, had intercepted two containers shipped from Iran.
The heroin is suspected to have been sourced from Afghanistan and the international street value of the seized narcotics will be about Rs 7 crore per kg.
One container had 1999.57 kg heroin, while the other had 988.64 kg. So the total estimated value of the seized contraband is over Rs 21,000 crores.”

According to the source, the consignment had been imported by a Vijaywada-based company from Iran’s Bandar Abbas Port and the heroin was scheduled to be taken to Delhi.
“Two persons — M. Sudhakar and his wife Durga Vaishali — owners of the import firm were arrested after the containers were seized and brought to Gujarat subsequently.
According to the source, the couple had been residing in Chennai for the past couple of years and were running the Vijaywada-based firm from there.
He added that the company had brought in the consignment from Iran by declaring that the containers had “semi-processed talc material from Afghanistan”.
“Upon seizure of the containers, samples were sent for testing under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, and experts from Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Gandhinagar confirmed it to be heroin,” the source said.
He added that while some of the heroin had been mixed with talc, the remaining was left in its almost pure form in different bags.
The official, however, refused to divulge the exact roles of the two suspects arrested in the consignment.
More arrests will take place as investigation proceeds, the role of certain Afghan nationals is being looked into, raids are being conducted across states — Delhi, Chennai, Gujarat,” the source claimed.

Intelligence agencies believe that Pakistan and anti-India elements in the Taliban together are trying to push Afghan heroin into
India to shore up finances for terror
There have already been multiple meetings among central agencies to discuss the impact in terms of drugs smuggling, infiltration of foreign terrorists and terror activities in India following the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul on August 15.

Addressing a press conference in Delhi this evening, leader Pawan Khera asked the BJP “can (you) tell us why Gujarat has become such a hotbed for drug smuggling?“
“What is the reason Gujarat has so much drug smuggling coming in? Why are we not busting this racket? How is it the syndicate still carrying on? This is a serious matter…”

Afghanistan is the world’s biggest heroin producer; it supplies over 80 per cent of global output.
Since seizing power the Taliban has said it will crack down on drugs but hasn’t yet said how.
Experts say they will struggle to walk away from a trade that helped fund their return to power.

Q) Which is the oldest artificial harbour on the East Coast of India?