Drug haul | Role of Pakistani elements being examined

Syndicate has roped in several locals to facilitate the smuggling racket

Local connect: The locked Aashi Trading Company office in Vijayawada which is under the scanner

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) is questioning the suspects arrested in connection with the 3,000-kg heroin seizure in Gujarat’s Mundra port to determine the identities of other foreign nationals who were part of the international drug trafficking syndicate.

The agency has so far arrested eight persons including four Afghan nationals, one Uzbek and three Indian nationals. During further searches, it has also seized about 10-kg powder suspected to be cocaine.

A Kandahar-based company, Hassan Hussain Limited, was shown as the exporter of the consignment that was sent through the Bandar Abbas port in Iran. A possible role of Pakistan-based elements is also being examined.

The syndicate had roped in several locals to facilitate the smuggling on the pretext of importing talc stones from Afghanistan. Among them was allegedly Govindaraju Durga Purna Vaishali and her husband, Machavaram Sudhakar, who had been living in Chennai for the past several years.

The masterminds used an import-export licence in her name to show import of the consignment by Aashi Trading Company in exchange for commission, as alleged. The Vijayawada premises, from where it was being run, is owned by her mother.

On Tuesday, the Vijayawada police said Ms. Vaishali had taken the GST registration in August last year “on the address at D.No. 23-14-16, Satyanarayanapuram, Gadiyaramvari Street, Vijayawada”.

The accused had registered the company and obtained the Importer-Exporter Code from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade the same month.

The police also said the smuggled heroin was intended to reach Delhi and not Vijayawada.