E-Paper
Gujarat ATS nabs Afghan national with heroin worth ₹2.5 crore in Delhi
The Afghan national is allegedly a part of an international drug syndicate involved in smuggling heroin by sea route and transporting it to Delhi
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Friday arrested an Afghan national in Delhi and seized 460 grams of heroin worth ₹2.5 crore from him, officials said.
According to Sunil Joshi, deputy inspector general of the the Gujarat ATS, the Afghan national has been identified as Mohammad Yaseen Miya Sahib (27).
“Yaseen, originally from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, entered India on a medical visa in 2017. He had been working as an interpreter for Afghan nationals seeking medical treatment in Delhi. Yaseen’s visa expired two years ago, and he had subsequently applied for a refugee card from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR),” said Joshi.
According to the officials, Yaseen has admitted to buying 4 kg of heroin from a Nigerian in Tilak Nagar about eight months ago and selling 3.5 kg of it. The investigation revealed that an unidentified Nigerian and Yaseen were part of the drug cartel, they said.
The Gujarat ATS has been investigating a drug smuggling case since September 2023, involving 8 kg of heroin brought into India by sea and delivered to Delhi.
Officials familiar with the matter said Yaseen was allegedly a part of the international drug syndicate involved in smuggling heroin by sea route and transporting it to Delhi. They said this case is connected to a larger operation where 120 kg of heroin worth ₹600 crore was smuggled through Salaya port near Jamnagar in 2021.
In March 2023, the ATS arrested three relatives of fugitive drug dealer Isa Hussain Rao, including his wife Tahira and son Arbaz. They were charged with helping to smuggle 8 kg of heroin into India via sea route in October 2022. Rao, from Jodia town in Jamnagar district, has been on the run since 2021 and is believed to be in an African country. Isa was a key suspect in the 2021 case where heroin worth ₹600 crore was seized in Morbi district.
The smuggling operation involved Rao’s Pakistan-based associate, Murtaza. A Gujarat-registered boat received the contraband near the Oman coast and delivered it near Veraval harbour on October 16, 2023. The heroin was then moved to Abu Road, Rajasthan, and finally to a foreign national in Delhi’s Tilak Nagar area. Rao’s family members, including his daughter Masuma and her fiancé Rizwan Taiyab, were involved in the transportation, according to police.
