ED takes custody of narcotics trafficker in Ketamine seizure case

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday took into its custody alleged narcotics trafficker Aliasgar Shirazi in connection with its money laundering probe related to the seizure of a synthetic narcotic, Ketamine, worth around ₹7.87 crore in March last year by the Mumbai police

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday took into its custody alleged narcotics trafficker Aliasgar Shirazi in connection with its money laundering probe related to the seizure of a synthetic narcotic, Ketamine, worth around ₹7.87 crore in March last year by the Mumbai police.

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A special court granted his custody to ED till January 12. Shirazi was lodged at Arthur Road Jail and was on May 22 last year arrested by Mumbai police’s Anti - Extortion Cell (AEC). The court had earlier granted ED’s requests for the issuance of a production warrant and grant of permission for his arrest. According to ED sources, Shirazi will be questioned by it to verify suspicions related to his earnings from alleged narcotic trafficking activities. Shirazi has so far denied allegations related to his narcotic trafficking activities. If required, the agency will also ‘confront’ him with witnesses in the case, the sources said.

ED had earlier in October last year carried out searches at six locations in the city in connection with the probe. ED’s probe revealed that suspected proceeds of crime were allegedly invested/layered through a set of entities, including a firm that runs several cloud kitchens in multiple cities, sources said. The agency’s searches included those on premises linked to Shirazi, his associates and others.

Mumbai Crime Branch’s Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) had in March last year conducted searches at a courier office in Andheri East and allegedly seized 15.74 kg of Ketamine worth ₹7.87 crore, and 23,410 strips of a prohibited drug worth ₹58.31 lakh. The contraband and the prohibited drug were allegedly meant to be smuggled to Australia and the United Kingdom.

Shirazi is accused of being a part of a drug trafficking syndicate that sent illegal synthetic drugs to several countries. He is also accused of being an aide of fugitive narcotics trafficker, Kailash Rajput. Shirazi and Rajput were earlier arrested in October 2012 for their alleged involvement in a case related to the seizure of psychotropic substances. On May 22, the AEC had arrested Shirazi after he arrived at the airport to go to Dubai. The AEC subsequently in its submissions before a city metropolitan court, for an extension of Shirazi’s remand, stated that he was considered allegedly a key associate of Rajput.

The police also said that Shirazi had allegedly deleted data from his mobile phone and a laptop and that he was linked with the dispatch of 30 consignments of contraband to the UK, the United States and Australia this year. The AEC had arrested a total of seven accused in the case. Its probe had revealed that the Ketamine had been allegedly procured from Gujarat.