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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested an Afghan national from Delhi in connection with the seizure of 3,000 kg of heroin from Gujarat's Mundra Port, the agency said on Tuesday.
The Afghan national, 28, identified as Sobhan Aryanfar, hailing from South Delhi's Neb Sarai, was arrested on December 12, an NIA spokesperson told ANI. Till date, 10 people have been arrested in the case. Five among these are Afghans and one is an Uzbek national. The total seizure has gone up to 3,004 kg. On October 12 the NIA conducted raids at five locations in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) linked to the seizure of 3,000 kg drugs at Gujarat's Mundra Port. The searches were conducted at residential premises and godowns at Lajpat Nagar, Alipur, Khera Kalan, New Delhi and Noida in connection with the seizure of semi-processed talc stones with contraband drugs imported by Aashi Trading Company. During searches, various incriminating documents, articles and items were seized by NIA. The agency on October 9 had also conducted raids in Chennai, Coimbatore, Vijaywada at premises of the accused and suspects involved in the Import of semi-processed talc stones with contraband. The case relates to the seizure of 2988.21 kg of narcotic substance (heroin) seized at Mundra Port in Gujarat having the involvement of foreign persons in procurement and delivery of the consignment. The narcotics drugs were found concealed in import consignment of 'Semi-processed Talc stones' originating from Afghanistan which had arrived from Bandar Abbas Port, Iran. The NIA on October 6 took over the Mundra Port drug haul case, in which 2,988.21 kg of heroin was seized at Mundra port by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in September. The NIA has not only invoked sections of IPC and the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act but also Section 17 (punishment for raising funds for the terrorist act) and Section 18 (punishment for conspiracy to commit terror acts) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). The NIA FIR has mentioned Machavaram Sudhakaran, Durga P.V. Govindaraju and Rajkumar P. as accused, among others. Chennai-based Sudhakaran and Govindaraju own the company which was shipping the contraband. Govindaraju is the proprietor of Aashi Trading Company, registered in Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada that was importing the talc from a firm called Hasan Husain Ltd. Rajkumar, from Coimbatore, worked in Iran and "was coordinating with foreign suppliers". Those arrested so far in the case were mainly caught by the DRI. Parallelly, the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Enforcement Directorate are also probing the case. The September 16 seizure is said to be one of the single-biggest hauls in India, worth over Rs 21,000 crore. (ANI)
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