NCB widens probe into Punjab drug syndicate with international links

According to the agency, the suspects has sourced and processed about 1,500 kg of heroin which was supplied from Afghanistan for local distribution

The arrest of 16 alleged members of an international drug syndicate has helped the Narcotics Control Bureau to unearth an intricate nexus between the Pakistan-based masterminds, drug manufacturers in Afghanistan, traffickers, local smugglers, gangsters and white-collar criminals.

The NCB is coordinating with multiple probe agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau, to pursue various leads and chase down the other syndicate members. In the past one year, the agency suspects that the network – that ran heroin processing units in Ludhiana in Punjab and Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh with the help of Afghan nationals – has sourced and processed about 1,500 kg of heroin for local distribution.

“As it turns out now, several modules were apparently operating independently on the ground. However, going up the chain, all were found connected to the same set of criminal elements. The drugs was being smuggled in through both the land (Attari border) and sea routes (ports),” NCB northern range Deputy Director-General Gyaneshwar Singh told The Hindu.

The NCB investigation has revealed that Pakistan-based masterminds arrange for the transportation of “crude heroin” from Afghanistan, either using the legal trade routes by concealing the contraband in the legitimate cargo, or via other maritime ways. The consignments may be brought to Konarak in Iran via Balochistan in Pakistan, where they are loaded onto small sailing vessels ( dhows). The other ports that used for transporting consignments are Gwadar or Karachi ports in Pakistan.

The vessels carrying huge quantities of heroin set out for different destinations, including India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Mozambique, Seychelles, Tanzania and Kenya, for further supply to Europe and other places. “In Konarak, the dhow owners get about 200-litre fuel from the government for free. Therefore, it is also a preferred transit for the traffickers,” said a senior agency official.

In the 3,000-kg heroin seizure case at Mundra Port, the investigators had found that the contraband had been shipped from the Bandar Abbas port in Iran, after being brought there via land route, in the guise of a consignment of semi-processed talc stones being imported by Vijayawada-based company, Aashi Trading Company.