Two Mumbai men held in Gujrat drug haul case

The Asian Age.

Metros, Mumbai

The vessel was on its way to India and was under surveillance since July 27 following the NTRO input.

The Mumbai NCB was not aware of their arrests, officials in Mumbai said. (Representational Image)

Mumbai: The Ahmedabad Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested two Mumbai-based alleged peddlers from Porbandar on Sunday in connection with the seizure of 1500 kg heroin off Gujarat coast on July 29, taking the total number of arrests in the case to 13.

As per NCB officials, the two drug peddlers were identified as Suleiman Sadiq, 45, and Saud Aslam Patel, 23, both residents of Dongri area in Mumbai. The NCB suspects that Sadiq and Patel were given the responsibility of finding customers for the seized contraband after it landed in India.  The duo was nabbed after the investigators learnt that they were in touch with two accused — Irfan Shaikh and Vishal Yadav — arrested in the heroin seizure case.  The Mumbai NCB was not aware of their arrests, officials in Mumbai said.  

“The two are local peddlers, and their antecedents are being verified. They were asked to look for local buyers as Mumbai has sizeable consumers of heroin. We are interrogating them and are getting more details of their activities,” said an NCB officer.

Coast Guards had seized biggest ever narcotics haul of banned heroin contraband of 1500 kgs worth Rs 3,500 crore. The seizure took place following input from the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) and other intelligence agencies.

The vessel was on its way to India and was under surveillance since July 27 following the NTRO input.

The authorities had kept a vast part of the sea under round the clock surveillance of Remote Operating Center (ROC) and Remote Operating Stations (ROS) of Coast Guard’s regional and district Headquarters at Gandhinagar and Porbandar respectively.

The vessel had eight crew members who along with the ship were brought to Porbandar and were jointly investigated by the Coast Guards, Intelligence Bureau, police, customs, Indian Navy and other agencies, officials said.

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