NIA files third supplementary chargesheet in 2988 kg heroin seizure case of Mundra Port

The consignment was smuggled into India from Afghanistan via Bandar Abbas, Iran in 2021. With this, a total of 42 individuals and 7 firms have so far been chargesheeted in the case.

New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed its third supplementary chargesheet against another accused in the Mundra Port case related to the seizure of 2988 kg heroin.

The consignment was smuggled into India from Afghanistan via Bandar Abbas, Iran in 2021. With this, a total of 42 individuals and 7 firms have so far been chargesheeted in the case.

Friday’s chargesheet, filed in the NIA Special Court in Ahmedabad names one Pankaj Vaid alias Amit alias Noni Sunaira alias Sanju Baba, a resident of Amritsar. He has been charged under various sections of IPC and NDPS Act, 1985.

As per the chargesheet, Pankaj is accused of being a part of the organized criminal conspiracy to smuggle illegal consignments of heroin through international trade routes to India from Afghanistan. An NIA investigation revealed that Pankaj was associated with foreign-based narcotics traders involved in pushing drugs into India.

Investigations further revealed that Pankaj had facilitated the processing and extraction of heroin and later sold the extracted heroin in India in the case.

The case was initially registered by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Unit- Gandhidham vide Case file No DRI/AZU/GRU/NDPS-01/2021 under the provisions of the NDPS Act.

It is worth mentioning that the NIA took over the investigations on October 6, 2021 and filed a chargesheet against 16 accused persons on March 14 last year.

Subsequently, it filed the 1st supplementary chargesheet against nine more persons on August 29, 2022 and the 2nd against seven firms and 15 individuals on February 20, 2023.