No drugs confiscated from Mundra port prior to seizure of nearly 3000 kg heroin: Centre

In a key development, the Centre revealed that no drugs were confiscated from Gujarat's Mundra port prior to the seizure of heroin in September. This was mentioned in Union MoS Home Nityanand Rai's written response to Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday. In the aftermath of the seizure of 2988.21 kg of heroin by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence from two containers at the Mundra port on around 13 September, the Adani Group had announced that EXIM containerized cargo from Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan will not be accepted there. 

The Mundra port drug bust case

The consignment containing the drug worth Rs.21,000 crore in the global market is said to be of Afghanistan origin and was shipped from Bandar Abbas Port in Iran to the Mundra Port. Reportedly, the heroin was concealed in the consignment of semi-processed talc stones imported by Vijayawada-registered Aashi Trading Company. While M Sudhakaran and Durga Vaishali who allegedly ran this firm were initially arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the NIA took over the case on 6 October. Booked under the stringent Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, they now face charges under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act as well.

As per sources, the NIA will conduct further investigation to ascertain whether the Aashi Trading Company was involved in smuggling drugs on earlier occasions too. It is likely to retrace the earlier cases in this regard and examine the money angle involved. Sources also revealed that the NIA has reasons to suspect that the money earned from drugs was being transferred to a person named Muhaummad Hussaini via hawala transactions. 

Before the case was transferred to the NIA, the DRI had arrested 8 persons including 4 Afghans and one Uzbek national. It also carried out follow-up operations in New Delhi, Noida, Chennai, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Mandvi, Gandhidham, and Vijayawada. This led to the recovery of 16.1 kilograms of heroin from a godown in Delhi, 10.2 kilograms of powder suspected to be cocaine and 11 kilograms of substance suspected to be heroin from a residential place in Noida. On 12 October, the NIA raided 5 places in Lajpat Nagar, Alipur, Khera Kalan, New Delhi and Noida and seized incriminating documents, items and articles.