Gujarat drugs haul: Four more held by ATS, NCB from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh

Days after the arrest of nine Pakistani nationals with heroin worth Rs 280 crore mid-sea, joint teams of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) nabbed four more persons, including a citizen of Afghanistan, from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday in connection with the drugs haul, the state ATS said.

The teams also recovered 35 kilogram of suspected drugs, said the anti-terror agency.

On April 25, the Indian Coast Guard and the Gujarat ATS apprehended a Pakistani boat with nine crew members on board in the Arabian Sea off the state coast, nearly 15 nautical miles away from the International Maritime Boundary Line, and seized 56 kilogram of heroin worth Rs 280 crore from the vessel.

Since preliminary investigation had revealed that a Karachi-based smuggler, identified only as Mustafa, was behind this drugs smuggling racket and the seized contraband was supposed to be transported to a northern state, the ATS and the NCB had formed various teams to raid locations of narcotics dealers in north India, said a release by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad.

During these raids, the joint teams nabbed four persons from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi on Wednesday and also recovered 35 kilogram of suspected drugs from Muzaffarnagar, UP, said the release.

A separate FIR has been registered by the NCB Delhi in this regard, said the ATS.

The arrested persons were identified as Imran Amir (Muzaffarnagar), Raji Hyder Zaidi and Avtar Singh alias Sunny (residents of Delhi's Jamia Nagar) and Abdul Khaliq (an Afghan national living in Lajpat Nagar in the national capital), said the release.

A detained investigation was launched following the arrests, it added. PTI PJT PD RSY RSY