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Gujarat ATS arrests 2 more businessmen for smuggling anaesthetic drug as aloe vera powder to Malaysia
One of the accused revealed he had arranged to send 22 kg of etomidate to Malaysia by air cargo, according to the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS).
The Gujarat ATS identified the three arrested businessmen as Nikunj Haresh Gadhiya, Chetan Kanu Vavadiya, and Bhautik Damji Padmani. (Photo by special arrangement)
Three days after the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) booked three businessmen and arrested one for allegedly trafficking the anaesthetic drug etomidate to Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore—where it is classified as a controlled substance—the other two men were also arrested.
While the ATS arrested Nikunj Haresh Gadhiya on March 7, the other two businessmen—Chetan Kanu Vavadiya and Bhautik Damji Padmani—were arrested on Tuesday, following their detention on March 8.
The ATS said in a statement, “On March 7, the Gujarat ATS registered an offence at the ATS Police Station against individuals involved in illegally exporting consignments of Etomidate powder from Mumbai Airport to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and other countries. The accused were exporting the substance by preparing false bills and fake customs clearance documents and by mislabeling and misdeclaring it as Aloe Vera powder and Ginopol-24 powder.”
The statement further said, “Thereafter, during search and inspection at the offices of the companies of the above three accused, purchase bills of Etomidate and stock registers were examined, which confirmed that they were mislabelling and mis-declaring Etomidate and exporting it to foreign countries.”
The ATS said that Nikunj Gadhiya revealed he had arranged to send 22 kg of etomidate in six parcels weighing 25.5 kg to Malaysia by air cargo on February 28.
“These 6 parcels were examined in Mumbai by ATS Inspector V N Bharwad using a Raman Spectrograph Drug Detector Kit, which confirmed the presence of Etomidate. The said 6 parcels had been misdeclared and mislabelled as Aloe Vera powder samples before being sent,” the statement added.
Further investigation is underway, the police said.
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