In the second major incident of drug bust from Gujarat’s Mundra port in one year, the state anti-terrorist squad (ATS) and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Tuesday seized Rs 350 crore worth heroin in a joint-operation after container from the Middle-East was intercepted by the agencies at the port owned by the Adani Group.
The container, which was officially carrying textile, was hiding more than 70 kg of heroin after physical searches were conducted, reported The Indian Express, citing officials.
“The process of weighing and ascertaining the exact weight of the consignment is still ongoing. But it has been confirmed that the banned substance found inside the container is heroin and it weighs more than 70 kg,” IE quoted sources as saying.
Gujarat Director General Police Ashish Bhatia is likely to brief the press later today on the joint operation undertaken by the ATS and the DRI.
This is the second instance in barely a year where a large consignment of heroin was seized by the authorities at the Mundra port, the largest private port in India located on the Gulf of Kutch.
In September, the DRI had stopped three containers, officially carrying semi-processed talc stones, from the Bandar Abbas port in Iran. After conducting searches, it was found that 2988.21 kg heroin worth over Rs 21,000 crore were hidden inside. The DRI had nabbed a Chennai couple, whose firm had allegedly ordered the consignment. Further probe revealed that the banned substance had come from the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan via Iran. Soon after, the investigation was handed over to the counter-terrorist task force NIA.
The drug seized from the September bust last year was the largest drug consignment to be intercepted in India and was destroyed at a company in the Kutch district last month, with the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman overseeing the operation virtually from Delhi.
