Gujarat’s Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in a joint operation with Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized around 40 kg of heroin worth ₹200 crore from a container loaded with scraps from Kolkata Port on Friday.
The drug consignment had apparently arrived from Dubai in February this year. The ATS team jointly acted with DRI after it received a tip-off from its sources regarding the parcels of heroin hidden in gear boxes lying in a container near the port.
According to Gujarat Director-General of Police (DGP) Ashish Bhatia, the consignment was sent by one SSK General Trading LLC of Dubai Bay as per the records the agencies have scrutinised after seizing the drug parcels that were neatly hidden in the gear boxes.
When the ATS and DRI officials open the container, they 36 gear boxes out of which a dozen of these 36 boxes were marked with white ink. Seventy-two packets of heroin were found when those marked boxes were opened.
Mr. Bhatia told mediapersons in Gandhinagar that the operation is still under way, and the Police would share more details after completing the search and seizure.
It may be noted that the ATS has been busting the drug smuggling via sea route in joint operation with Indian Coast Guard, DRI, Punjab Police, NCB and Delhi Police.
In 2022, it has seized total 1288 kg of heroin worth ₹6,440 crore in various operations carried out in Gujarat, Delhi and now Kolkata.