Mundra drug haul: Smugglers linked to Pak terror groups, NIA tells court

The NIA filed a chargesheet Monday against 16 people — 11 Afghan nationals, four Indians and an Iranian — in connection with the case. The heroin seizure was made by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the consignment was said to be worth over Rs 21,000 crore.

The consignment intercepted at the Mundra Port in Gujarat in September last year, have links with terror groups in Pakistan.

Written by: Deeptiman Tiwary

3 min readNew DelhiMar 15, 2022 07:09 AM IST First published on: Mar 15, 2022 at 03:43 AM IST

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has told a special court in Ahmedabad that those involved in the smuggling of nearly 3,000 kg of heroin, a consignment intercepted at the Mundra Port in Gujarat in September last year, have links with terror groups in Pakistan.

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The NIA filed a chargesheet Monday against 16 people — 11 Afghan nationals, four Indians and an Iranian — in connection with the case. The heroin seizure was made by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and the consignment was said to be worth over Rs 21,000 crore.

“Links of the accused Mohammad Hasan Hussain Dad and Mohammad Hasan Dad and other co-conspirators have also emerged with proscribed terror organisations based in Pakistan. The proceeds of drugs trafficking were channelled back to foreign entities through hawala channels at the behest of Pak-based terror outfits for use in anti-India activities,” the NIA said in a statement.

Read | Two Rajasthan natives held in Gujarat with drug worth Rs 20 lakh

Hasan Dad and Hussain Dad are promoters of M/s Hasan Hussain Ltd based in Kandahar, Afghanistan. It was this company, officials said, that had sent the consignment, declaring it as semi-processed talc stones. The consignment originated from Kandahar and was sent via the port of Bandar Abbas in Iran. In India, it was supposed to be received by Andhra-based M/s Aashi Trading Company run by Chennai-based couple Machavaram Sudhakar and his wife Govindaraju Durga Purna Vaishali.

“During investigation, it was established that the smuggling of narcotics into India was carried out earlier as well by the same set of accused persons. These included the offences registered by DRI Delhi zonal unit wherein 16.105 kg of heroin was seized from a warehouse in Delhi; and a case FIR No. 90/2021 PS Garh Shankar dated 01.07.2021 in Hoshiarpur, Punjab wherein 20.250 kg of heroin was seized. These two offences were also subsumed in the instant case as connected offences,” the NIA said.

The Dads and accused M Sudhakar, DP Vaishali and Rajkumar Perumal of M/s Aashi Trading Company along with others, the NIA said, had entered into a criminal conspiracy to smuggle huge quantity of narcotics to India by concealing it in consignments of semi-processed talc.

“The consignment sent in September, 2021 was intercepted whereas earlier consignments were received and stored in a warehouse in Delhi for further distribution in Delhi and Punjab,” the NIA said.

The 16 chargesheeted by the agency include 10 who have been arrested — six others are on the run. Those arrested are Machavaram Sudhakar, his wife DP Vaishali, Rajkumar Perumal and Pradeep Kumar — all from India; Mohammad Khan Akhlaqi, Said Mohammad Hussaini, Fardin Amery, Sobhan Aryanfar, Alokozai Mohammad Khan and Murtaza Hakimi — all Afghan nationals. The six absconding are the Dads, Iranian national Javad Najafi and Afghan nationals Najibullah Khan Khalid, Esmat Ullah Honari and Abdul Hadi Alizada.