2021 Mundra drug bust: ED raids premises in Delhi linked to businessman

THe Enforcement board of directors (ED) on wed carried come out raids in new delhi on man of affairs Harpreet Singh Talwar alias Kabir Talwar and others in connection with the 2021 drug bust at Mundra port in Gujarat, in which 2,988 kg of Afghan heroin worth ₹21,000 crore was intercepted by the Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence (DRI), people familiar with the development said.The Mundra port drug bust of around 3,000 kg Afghan heroin worth ₹21,000 crore, intercepted in September 2021, was one of the biggest consignments ever which came to India via maritime route.HT had first reported about this drug bust in 2021.Even though a Prevention of Money Laundering Act or PMLA probe is on in the matter since 2021, ED launched fresh raids on Wednesday based on certain fresh inputs, according to officials.Kabir Talwar was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in August 2022 and later charge sheeted to take part in Pakistan-backed conspiracy to smuggle high-quality drugs into India. He was recently released on bail, said an officer.Officials said on Wednesday that a total five premises were being searched in Delhi belonging to Talwar, one Shamshudeen and their associates.Also Read: 30kg heroin recovery case: 2 more nabbed with 5kg drugs in Amritsar“It is alleged that the money generated through the smuggling of drugs was invested in the night clubs in Delhi,” said the officer cited above.The NIA had found in its probe in the Mundra drug bust that money generated through drugs which came to Mundra was meant for terrorists.The NIA filed its first charge sheet in the Mundra case on March 14, 2022, against 16 cartel members, including Afghan nationals, Iranians and several Indians; and a second charge sheet against nine suspects in August 2022.On Pakistan’s link, the NIA’s charge sheet stated: “It has been revealed that narcotic smugglers enjoy the patronage of security agencies of Pakistan and Afghanistan and smuggled the drugs through sea route up to Indian ports via Iran. Thereafter, these consignments are transported through roads to inner parts of India.”This international conspiracy, it had said, was not merely for one consignment but for the series of consignments imported from Afghanistan to India with prior intention for huge illegal monetary gain to fund terrorist activities and circulation and consumption of narcotics among the youths of India, thereby impacting the health of the nation.On Talwar’s role, NIA had said that at a time when Pakistan backed syndicate was looking to push huge quantities of drugs stockpiled in Afghanistan during Covid-19 pandemic and an uncertainty overTaliban’s takeover of the country, Delhi’s clubbing tycoon Harpeet Singh alias Kabir Talwar used the opportunity to smuggle drugs to India through his companies as he saw “low risk and high returns in the illegal business”.Talwar was handsomely compensated for facilitating the smuggling of “hundreds of kilograms of heroin” through ports, the proceeds of which were actually meant for the terror activities of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizbul Mujahideen, NIA said.The federal anti-terror probe agency had elaborated in its charge sheet methods used by the businessman for importing the contraband through Indian ports.Behind his legal businesses, the serial entrepreneur had been found involved in conspiracies in all kinds of murky, illegal and criminal activities, the agency has found.“His journey into the criminal world started with small illegalities, including tax evasion, customs duty evasion. However, soon enough, he got involved in smuggling of prohibited goods into India,” according to details of the charge sheet and investigation reports of NIA, reviewed by HT.In fact, he was earlier arrested by the DRI in March 2022 in a smuggling case of 21,60,000 sticks of Gudang Garam cigarettes from Nhava Sheva port in Maharashtra. He remained in prison for a few weeks before being bailed out.“He resorted to bribing officials and used loopholes in the systems established at the ports for successfully carrying out his smuggling business”, which emboldened him further for bigger crimes, NIA claims.For business purposes, he often traveled to Dubai. During Covid-19, he came in touch with one Vityesh Koser alias Raju Dubai, a prominent UAE based smuggler known for getting illegal trade consignments cleared at Indian ports.Talwar was named by NIA as a key player in the international drugs smuggling syndicate of Afghan heroin through Indian ports, essentially run by Pakistani spy agency – inter services intelligence (ISI).Raju Dubai was in touch with Kandahar based cartel leaders - Hassan Dad and his brother Hussain Dad, both allegedly working for ISI, to send heroin into India from Afghanistan, via Iran’s Bandar Abbas port.“Kabir Talwar was happy to oblige as he saw low risk and high returns in the business,” NIA said.