MUMBAI, JULY 10: Officers of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Friday night arrested three persons following a seizure of 25 kilograms of mandrax tablets on July 1. Valued at Rs 5 lakh in the Indian market, the tablets were to be exported to Johannesburg in South Africa.The arrested include two export agents Deepak Suryavanshi and Suresh Vithal Rane, and an employee of Gordon Woodruffe Limited, Yogesh Ohol. Another accused in the case, an employee of the Customs clearance department at Air Cargo, is absconding.According to the remand application, the DRI officers learnt through intelligence that one consignment of mandrax tablets was being exported to Johannesburg by M/s Shyam Ahuja and the export documents, along with the consignment, were being handled by Gordon Woodruffe Limited. Following this, the officers visited the premises of Gordon at Andheri (East).Confirming the receipt of the consignment, Assistant Manager of the firm Rakesh Gupta told the officers that the merchandisecontained imitation jewellery. Gupta proceeded to make enquires with M/s Shyam Ahuja only to learn that the shipment did not belong to them. Gupta then opened the consignment and found that it contained mandrax tablets and not imitation jewellery.Investigations by the DRI revealed that Deepak Suryavanshi, an export agent, introduced another agent, Suresh Vithal Rane, to a person (unnamed) in the Customs clearance department at Air Cargo, saying that the latter intended to export illegal goods and needed their help for the same.Suryavanshi also assured Rane of monetary returns for the assistance. Suryavanshi and Rane along with Yogesh Ohol, an employee of Gordon, had earlier exported an illegal consignment to South Africa in March 1999.Investigations revealed that the trio had used false names and import-export code numbers. It was further revealed that the trio had helped their absconding accomplice in processing the export documents from the concerned Customs and IATA authorities at the Air Cargocomplex, Sahar.The trio were arrested late Friday and were remanded to judicial custody by Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate N M Padgaonkar. Top
