Says zonal NCB director Hari Om Gandhi; drug sample sent to FSL Gandhinagar for testing
While investigating the 1,500kg heroin seizure case, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has come to the conclusion that the heroin is of really high quality. They say this is the first time that heroin of such pure quality has been seized in India.
Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had detained three others from Kolkata and Mumbai in connection with the drug seizure. They were in contact with the captain of MV Hennry, the ship which was hauling the contraband to India, through a satellite phone. The officials also recovered two satellite phones from them during the investigation before handing over the case to the NCB for further investigation. “On Wednesday, these accused were sent to 15-day-remand,” NCB officials said.
“They were bringing the drugs to Indian coasts but did not have a foolproof plan as to what they would have done with it once they reached here. We are yet to find what they were planning to do with it. Only further investigation and interrogation of the accused will reveal this. We even suspect that more people are involved in the racket,” an NCB official said.
Meanwhile, NCB’s zonal director Hari Om Gandhi has said that the seized heroin is of a very high quality and that this is the first time that such pure heroin has been seen in India. “Generally, impure or low-grade heroin is found on Indian streets,” Gandhi said.
“A sample of the drugs has been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) at Gandhinagar. We will come to know of its exact purity once we get the FSL report,” Gandhi added.
LARGEST BUST EVER
- In one of the largest single haul of narcotics till date, the Indian Coast Guard had on July 31 seized 1,500 kgs of heroin, valued at around Rs3,500 crore, from a merchant vessel off the Gujarat coast. The vessel had been spotted around 380km off Dwarka through surveillance mounted by the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), an intelligence-gathering agency.
- The NTRO shared the intelligence about the suspect vessel on July 27 and the Coast Guard was notified. Intelligence suggested the crew was negotiating the mode of payment for the contraband and its intended destination. They had finally decided the hawala channel for payment, according to intelligence agencies.
- The NTRO sent out updates and the Coast Guard pressed its ships and aircraft to observe and prevent the vessel from escaping. The merchant vessel, MV Hennry, was finally intercepted on Saturday and brought to Porbandar.
- The contraband was later estimated to be around Rs 4,200 crore.
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