New Delhi
Eight persons including four Afghan nationals, one Uzbekistan and three Indian nationals have been arrested by the DRI in the sensational Mundra Drug Smuggling Case.
In its continued crackdown on smuggling of heroin into India, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) detained two containers on September 13, for examination that had arrived at Mundra Port from Kandhar in Afghanistan via Bandar Abbas of Iran. The containers were declared to contain Semi-processed Talc Stones. Detailed examination of the containers led to the seizure of 2988 kgs of heroin from the two containers on 17 and 19 September, the Indian agency said.
The heroin was concealed in jumbo bags said to contain unprocessed talc powder. The heroin was placed in the lower layers of the bags. The heroin was then topped with Talc stones to avoid detection. Resultantly, the heroin had to be painstakingly separated from the Talc Stones, it added.
The agency added that follow-up operations were carried out in New Delhi, Noida (UP), Chennai, Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Mandvi, Gandhidham and Vijaywada. This led to the recovery of 16.1 kgs of heroin from a Godown in Delhi, 10.2 kgs powder suspected to be cocaine and 11 kgs of substance suspected to be heroin from a residential place in Noida.
A total of eight persons including four Afghan nationals, one Uzbek National and three Indian nationals have been arrested in the case so far. The 3 Indian nationals are believed to be Vaishali, her husband Sudhakar and a middle man called Amit. The arrested Indian Nationals include the holder of the Import Export Code (IEC), which was used to import the consignment. Vaishali and Sudhakar are a married couple who have been arrested from Chennai. They ran a shell company in Vijayawada.
