NIA files fresh charge sheet in Pak drugs smuggling case

The NIA on Saturday said it has filed a fresh charge sheet against nine accused, including an Afghan national, in a 2018 case of smuggling 500 kg heroin by sea from Pakistan that was dumped off the Gujarat coast.

The supplementary charge sheet was filed before a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Ahmedabad. The federal agency re-registered this Gujarat ATS case of August 2018 in July 2020, saying a ''criminal conspiracy was hatched in Dubai'' for smuggling of the drugs cache.

Around 500 kg of heroin was brought in a Pakistani fishing vessel and was delivered in the Indian territorial waters, about 7-8 miles away from Jakhau Port, Kutch in Gujarat, by Pakistani nationals, an NIA spokesperson said.

During investigations, the spokesperson said, it was found that the smuggled drugs, worth 1,500 crore, were sent from Pakistan to India for further delivery in Amritsar in Punjab for raising of funds by Pakistan national Haji Saab alias Bhaijaan and to harm the well-being of the vulnerable youth population of India.

Eight Indian nationals and one from Afghanistan have been named in the charge sheet, the spokesperson said.