Mumbai DRI seizes heroin hidden in cooking oil cargo
Darpan News Desk IANS, 08 Oct, 2021 11:25 AM
Mumbai, Oct 8 (IANS) The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence's (DRI) Mumbai unit has seized a consignment of 25 kg heroin concealed in a consignment of groundnut oil at the Nhava Port Trust in Navi Mumbai, and arrested one person, officials said on Friday.
Following a tipoff, the DRI sleuths swooped on the port on October 4 and detected the huge narcotics contraband, valued at Rs 125 crore, among boxes of a cooking oil container arriving from Iran and are now probing the possibility of a bigger drug smuggling racket with international ramifications for India and other countries.
Further investigations led the DRI to businessman Sandeep Thakker in south Mumbai who admitted that he had given his IMPEX Code to a friend, Jayesh Sanghvi in return for a commission of Rs 10,000 on every import order from Iran.
Thakkar claimed that since he had been doing business with Sanghvi since over a decade, he trusted him and shared the IMPEX Code, but he had no knowledge that the latter was allegedly indulging in narcotics smuggling.
Following Thakkar's statement, the DRI nabbed Sanghvi on Wednesday, and charged him under relevant sections of the NDPS Act. He was remanded to DRI custody till October 11, and his past import records are being probed.
On Wednesday, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal gave permission to the Jantar Mantar demonstration on the condition that a maximum of 200 protesters will be allowed till August 9 between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Sidhu sent an invite, signed by some 62 legislators, through working presidents, Kuljit Singh Nagra and Sangat Singh Gilzian, to the 'sulking' Chief Minister to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
In a statement here, Badal said it was condemnable that the NDA government had targeted Hindi daily Dainik Bhaskar and the Bharat Samachar group because they had posed tough questions to the government in keeping with high standards of journalism.
In a written reply to parliamentarian Binoy Viswam in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State (External Affairs) V.A. Muraleedharan said during the unprecedented crisis, the international community came forward with offers of solidarity and assistance for specific medicines and equipment that were not immediately available in the country.
With the Pegasus snoopgate leading to ruckus in the Parliament, Union Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Thursday that the news story on snooping was an attempt to malign India's democracy and its institutions.
Slamming the BJP leader for using derogatory language against the farmers, who have been peacefully agitating against the three Central farm laws for the past nearly eight months, the Chief Minister said that it reflected the party's anti-farmer mindset.
