Muzaffarnagar: Days after the arrest of nine Pakistani nationals with heroin worth Rs 280 crore mid-sea, joint teams of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) nabbed four more persons, including a citizen of Afghanistan, from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, on Saturday, in connection with the drugs haul, the state ATS said. The teams also recovered 35 kilograms of suspected drugs, said the anti-terror agency.
The Gujarat ATS received input that a drug cartel was being operated by Avtar Singh and Raji Hyder Zaidi from Delhi's Okhla. An Afghanistani national, Abdulla Raab, who resided in Delhi's Lajpat Nagar was also allegedly involved. ATS also nabbed Imran Amir from Muzaffarnagar in connection with this case.
On April 25, the Indian Coast Guard and the Gujarat ATS apprehended a Pakistani boat with nine crew members on board in the Arabian Sea off the state coast, nearly 15 nautical miles away from the International Maritime Boundary Line, and seized 56 kilograms of heroin worth Rs 280 crore from the vessel.
A team of ATS first arrested Amir and Zaidi from the outskirts of Delhi and when their vehicle was checked, police found that there was one kg of heroin. A team of Delhi NCB in a joint operation with Gujarat ATS caught Raab and Singh from a godown in Muzaffarnagar, where they recovered 42 kg heroin and 2.750 kg acetic anhydride, as per reports.