Around three tonnes of heroin was seized at Mundra port on Sunday in Gujarat. However, according to sources, this is just a tip of the iceberg, as the drug smugglers had earlier imported 24 tonnes and placed it in the distribution channel that is operational in several parts of the country.
Going by the estimate of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the heroin seized on Sunday was worth Rs 9,000 crore, while the earlier consignment that was sneaked into the country would be valued at more than Rs 70,000 crore.
As per investigations, Vijayawada based Aashi Trading Company had reportedly received 25 tonnes in June this year and allegedly cooked up a record that the “semi cut talcum powder blocks” which are similar to the material seized by the DRI, were transported to a New Delhi-based trader Kuldeep Singh.
The consignment was shipped by a lorry bearing number RJ01 GB 8328 that is allegedly owned by Rajasthan-based Jaydeep Logistics.
According to documentary evidence, the lorry still has not crossed any tollgate on the 1,176-km route between the port and New Delhi, which indicates that the material is either still in Gujarat, which is most unlikely, or smuggled to other places.
The Delhi-based trader is mostly a fake address as Kuldeep Singh was not a registered dealer. The Aashi company was registered last year in Vijayawada on the pretext of exporting rice through Kakinada port.
The authorised signatory of Aashi Trading Company, Machavarapu Sudhakar, was a resident of Chennai and set up a proprietorship firm in the name of his wife Vaishali and obtained licenses. Significantly, the Central GST authorities through whom Sudhakar obtained Goods and Services Tax Identification Numer (GSTIN) mapped the business entity in Seetharamapuram division of Vijayawada though the residential address given in Satyanarayanapuram falls in Benz Circle division.
