Gujarat pharma firm directors among five held, on transit remand: Police

Those arrested have been identified as Avkar Drugs directors Ashwin Keshubhai Ramani, Brijesh Kothia and Vijay Keshavlal Bhesania; Mayur, an employee of an alleged fake pharma company named Pharma Solutions Services; and Amit Masooria, a middleman who aided the meeting between representatives of the two firms. The five accused were produced before an Ankleshwar court Monday afternoon.

The police said the drugs seized from the Gujarat factory were part of a consignment that was allegedly smuggled by a cartel operated by Dubai-based businessman Virendra Baisoya. The drugs were moved out of Gujarat as medical consignments and then were handed over, on paper, to Pharma Solutions Services, police said.

Established on September 23, 2016, Aavkar Drugs is “involved in the manufacture of other chemical products”, its website says. “Aavkar was involved with the Dubai cartel and Baisoya. Their communication channels are being interrogated,” a police officer said.

Mayur and Masooria were part of the Dubai cartel’s UK-leg handled by Jassi and Savinder who were responsible for distributing the Mahipalpur godown batch and the Ramesh Nagar batch of consignments, respectively, in New Delhi. “They both were connected to Pharma Solutions Services, which is also registered in the UK,” a police official said.

So far, 12 people have been arrested and six lookout circulars, including one against the alleged mastermind Baisoya, in the drug seizures totalling 1,289 kg cocaine and 40 kg hydroponic Thailand marijuana, worth Rs 13,000 crore, issued. According to a police officer, the drugs were to arrive at the Aavkar factory from Dubai for “refining” and “processing”. “Then it was transported as ‘medicine’ packages of Pharma Solutions Services to Delhi-NCR,” the officer said.

“The fake company hired employees on the pretext of working for a pharma brand, many of them MBA graduates, and used them to arrange storage in Delhi-NCR. The name of the company was also used to hire vehicles from transporters in Delhi to move the consignment from one godown to another,” an officer said.

Earlier, officers had told The Indian Express that Baisoya used Theerma, a paid encrypted app, to communicate with UK residents Jassi and Savinder.

Hunt against narco trade will continue without laxity: Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday that the hunt against drugs and narco trade will continue with no laxity. Shah said the Modi government is committed to building a drug-free Bharat by protecting the youth from the scourge of drugs.

“I congratulate Delhi Police for the series of successful operations seizing drugs worth Rs 13,000 crore, including the recent one with Gujarat Police recovering cocaine worth Rs 5,000 crore. The hunt against drugs & narco trade will continue with no laxity,” he wrote on X.

(With inputs from PTI)