AHMEDABAD, India: Indian authorities seized 90kg (198 pounds) of drugs worth $58 million from a port in the western state of Gujarat, a police officer said on Saturday, the third such haul in two weeks.
Friday’s seizure was made from a container that arrived in the port of Pipavav at a time when India has stepped up vigilance on its western border to prevent drug smuggling from Iran and Afghanistan.
“The container was filled with yarn, but an examination showed that the threads were laced with a heroin derivative, before being dried and converted into bales,” a state police official told Reuters.
The heroin mixed in the threads would have required to be extracted, the federal government said in a statement.
This week, police seized 50kg (123lb) of heroin worth $37 million and arrested nine Pakistanis in a marine operation.
Authorities also seized 205.6kg (453lb) of heroin, valued at $188 million, from the Gujarat port of Kandla this month.
In Delhi, the four accused — two Afghan and two Indians — who were arrested in connection with the seizure of 50kg heroin from a residential flat in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh area on April 27, have been sent to seven-day police remand.
Deputy Director General (DDG) Operations of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Sanjay Singh, said the seized heroin originated from Afghanistan and drug money is suspected to be channelled through hawala.
“NCB Delhi zone seized 50kg high-quality heroin, 47kg suspected narcotics, 30 lakhs drug money in cash counting machines and other incriminating materials from a residential premise in Jamia Nagar, Shaheen Bagh on April 27,” Singh said.
The probe has revealed that an Indo-Afghan syndicate was based in Delhi and is expertise in manufacturing and adulterating heroin locally, the NCB officer said.
“The man who was arrested is an Indian national, had taken the house on rent in Delhi where the drugs and cash have been recovered,” the officer added.
The NCB officer said: “This is one of the biggest narcotics seizures in Delhi, that too from a residential area, in the recent past. Another 47kg of “suspected” narcotics were also seized from the premises and has been sent to a laboratory for testing.”
NCB further said that the India-Afghanistan syndicates smuggled goods to India through maritime as well as land-border routes and heroin is smuggled with legitimate goods and cargo.
“The contraband is subsequently extracted from these goods by the Indian members of the syndicates with the help of some Afghan nationals,” one of the officers said.
