The National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the nearly 3,000-kg heroin consignment worth Rs 21,000 crore seized from Gujarat’s Mundra Port in September last year has found that the drug shipment could be connected to terror financing News18 has learnt.
Sources told News18 that the investigation has revealed that proscribed terror outfits based in Pakistan arranged to send the narcotic drugs to India through sea route for distribution in the country. The NIA, which took over investigation into the case in October, will soon file a charge sheet.
Sources said the charge sheet will likely be filed in NIA Special Court in Ahmedabad, Gujarat against 16 accused held under sections 120B, 466 & 471 of IPC; sections 8(c), 21(c), 23(c) & 29 of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985; and sections, 17, 18 & 20 of UA (P) Act, 1967.
Sources said that as per the investigation, the proceeds were supposed to be siphoned to offshore foreign entities and from there back to terror outfits in Pakistan that undertake anti-India activities.
Sources said the charge sheet is likely to allege that accused Mohammad Hasan Hussain Dad and Mohammad Hasan Dad of M/s Hasan Hussain Ltd, which is based in Afghanistan’s Kandahar, and accused M Sudhakar, DP Vaishali and Rajkumar Perumal of Vijayawada-based M/s Aashi Trading Company along with others entered into a criminal conspiracy to smuggle the 2,988.21 kg heroin consignment to India by misrepresenting it as semi-processed talc.
While the September consignment was seized, a previous consignment from June went unnoticed and reached a warehouse in Delhi for further distribution in the national capital and Punjab.
Sources said the investigators found links between the above-mentioned accused with proscribed terror organisations based in Pakistan.
Four Afghan nationals, one Uzbek and three Indians — had been arrested in connection with the seizure of 3,000 kg heroin worth Rs 21,000 crore from the Mudra Port in September. Those arrested include an Indian couple — M Sudhakar and his wife Durga Vaishali — who allegedly ran Vijayawada-registered M/S Aashi Trading Company which had imported the consignment claiming that it contained “semi-processed talc stones”.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), which made the initial seizure of the drugs worth Rs 15,000 crore on September 15, failed to trace a Delhi-based businessman, named Kuldeep Singh, who was the recipient of all consignments. The drugs, said to have originated from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, were seized from two containers at the Mundra port in Gujarat’s Kutch district.
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