Mumbai DRI seizes heroin hidden in cooking oil cargo
Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 Oct, 2021 11:25 AM
Mumbai, Oct 8 (IANS) The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence's (DRI) Mumbai unit has seized a consignment of 25 kg heroin concealed in a consignment of groundnut oil at the Nhava Port Trust in Navi Mumbai, and arrested one person, officials said on Friday.
Following a tipoff, the DRI sleuths swooped on the port on October 4 and detected the huge narcotics contraband, valued at Rs 125 crore, among boxes of a cooking oil container arriving from Iran and are now probing the possibility of a bigger drug smuggling racket with international ramifications for India and other countries.
Further investigations led the DRI to businessman Sandeep Thakker in south Mumbai who admitted that he had given his IMPEX Code to a friend, Jayesh Sanghvi in return for a commission of Rs 10,000 on every import order from Iran.
Thakkar claimed that since he had been doing business with Sanghvi since over a decade, he trusted him and shared the IMPEX Code, but he had no knowledge that the latter was allegedly indulging in narcotics smuggling.
Following Thakkar's statement, the DRI nabbed Sanghvi on Wednesday, and charged him under relevant sections of the NDPS Act. He was remanded to DRI custody till October 11, and his past import records are being probed.
At a virtual Covid-19 review meeting, the Chief Minister said vaccine effectiveness is evident from the data being analysed. Special efforts were made to reach out to the government employees, and those who continue to avoid getting vaccinated will now be asked to go on leave till they get the first dose.
DGP Dinkar Gupta said with the case load decreasing, people had started being lax about wearing masks, which the Health Department should strictly enforce with the help of the police.
Additional Chief Secretary Devendra Singh and Deputy Commissioner of Karnal Nishant Yadav are participating in the meeting. From the farmers side, BKU president Gurunam Singh Chaduni and the state leadership will present their demands.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Balbir Singh Rajewal told the media here after the day-long deliberations with the political parties, except the BJP, that they had told the political parties not to hold big rallies till elections in the state are announced.
Naqvi further stated that the long-pending demand of Kartarpur Corridor has been fulfilled and the government has also decided to start the 'Gurudwara circuit train' that will take passengers on a pilgrimage across the country.
