MoS Home Nityanand Rai says NIA has registered case in Mundra drugs haul

New Delhi [India], December 1 (ANI): Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case in connection with the seizure of 2,988.21-kg heroin worth Rs 21,000 crore from Mundra Port in Gujarat between September 17 and 19 this year.
Responding to Congress MP Anto Antony, MoS Home Nityanand Rai told the Lok Sabha, "The NIA has registered a case on October 6 related to the seizure of 2,988.21 Kg of Narcotics Substance (Heroin) worth Rs 21,000 crore at TG Terminals Pvt Ltd, Mundra Port. The substance was initially seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) between September 17 and 19."
The case relates to the involvement of foreign persons in the procurement and delivery of the 2,998 kg drug consignment worth approximately Rs 21,000 crore.
The narcotics drugs were found concealed in import consignment of 'semi-processed Talc stones' originating from Afghanistan which had arrived from Bandar Abbas Port in Iran.
The anti-terror agency took over the investigation of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Wednesday in pursuance of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order.
The DRI registered the case on September 13 this year under section various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), section 8 (C), 23 of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and section 17, 18 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 against Chennai-based entrepreneurs Machavaram Sudhakaran, Durga PV Govindaraju, Rajkumar P and others.
A total of eight people - four Afghan, one Uzbek and three Indian persons - have been arrested in the case, the Ministry of Finance had said on September 22. (ANI)