by AHMEDABAD: This year, Gujarat not only emerged as a major route for drug peddling, but also appeared to have become a destination for its consumption. Central and state agencies seized the highest ever drug hauls, including 3,000kg heroin by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and 146kg of heroin seized by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad.
On September 13, the DRI’s seizure of two containers of semi-processed talc stones at Mundra port revealed it had Rs 21,000 crore heroin which had come from Kandahar in Afghanistan via the Bandar Abbas Port of Iran. The case is being probed by the National Investigation Agency. On September 18, the ATS and Coast Guard nabbed seven Iranians from a boat off the Gujarat coast. They were carrying 50kg heroin to Sri Lanka.
On November 15, ATS raided a cleric’s house in Jinjuvada village of Morbi and seized 120kg heroin.
Probe revealed the contraband had been bought from Pakistani drug mafia. In August, the NCB nabbed NRI Derrick Pillay from Johannesburg in South Africa, with 4 kg of cocaine worth Rs 1 crore at the SVPI airport, the biggest seizure of cocaine in the recent past.
Recently, Ahmedabad police arrested Satellite resident Vandit Patel, 27, who ran a salon in Bopal and sold drugs to people from elite class in the western part of the city. “There’s an increasing trend where drugs, especially synthetic ones like methamphetamine and mephedrone, are meant for consumption in Gujarat and neighbouring states like Maharashtra,” said cops. Seizure of drugs from Devbhoomi-Dwarka district shows sale and consumption of drugs in high in rural areas, too.
On September 13, the DRI’s seizure of two containers of semi-processed talc stones at Mundra port revealed it had Rs 21,000 crore heroin which had come from Kandahar in Afghanistan via the Bandar Abbas Port of Iran. The case is being probed by the National Investigation Agency. On September 18, the ATS and Coast Guard nabbed seven Iranians from a boat off the Gujarat coast. They were carrying 50kg heroin to Sri Lanka.
On November 15, ATS raided a cleric’s house in Jinjuvada village of Morbi and seized 120kg heroin.
Probe revealed the contraband had been bought from Pakistani drug mafia. In August, the NCB nabbed NRI Derrick Pillay from Johannesburg in South Africa, with 4 kg of cocaine worth Rs 1 crore at the SVPI airport, the biggest seizure of cocaine in the recent past.
Recently, Ahmedabad police arrested Satellite resident Vandit Patel, 27, who ran a salon in Bopal and sold drugs to people from elite class in the western part of the city. “There’s an increasing trend where drugs, especially synthetic ones like methamphetamine and mephedrone, are meant for consumption in Gujarat and neighbouring states like Maharashtra,” said cops. Seizure of drugs from Devbhoomi-Dwarka district shows sale and consumption of drugs in high in rural areas, too.
