In a massive action in the Rs 3,000 crore Mundra Port drug haul case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed its second supplementary chargesheet against businessman and owner of Delhi-based White Club, Harpreet Singh Talwar aka Kabir Talwar and 21 others.
The NIA claimed that Talwar, who runs multiple trades in New Delhi, like clubs, retail showrooms and import firms opened in the names of his employees, relatives and friends, which were solely operated by him for importing narcotics, banned items and receiving remittances in form of legitimate goods in lieu of his role in the smuggling cartel.
The second supplementary chargesheet was filed before the NIA special court in Ahmedabad under section 120B of the IPC, sections 8(c), 21(c), 23(c), 29 of the NDPS Act, 1985 and sections 17, 18 and 22C of the UA(P) Act, 1967.
In September 2021, 2,988 kg of heroin was seized by the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) at the Mundra port in Gujarat. The consignment was smuggled using the maritime route from Afghanistan’s Kandahar through Bandar Abbas in Iran.
The case was first registered by the DRI but was later taken over by the NIA on October 6, 2021.
NIA had earlier filed a charge sheet against 16 accused on March 14, 2022, and the first supplementary charge sheet against nine accused persons on August 29 last year.
Besides Talwar, the NIA has named Prince Sharma, Rah Matullah Kakar, Shaheenshah Zaheer, both Afghan nationals, Ishwinder Singh a resident of Panipat in Haryana, Jasbir Singh, Sushanta Sarkar a resident of Malda in West Bengal, Aashi Trading Co., Jesus Christ Impex, Magent India, V/K Enterprises, Vyom Fashions, all India based companies.
The NIA has also named Afghanistan-based companies, Hasan Husain Limited, Habib Shahab Talc and Marble Processing Company in its chargesheet.
The NIA also named Vityash Koser aka Raju Dubai, a resident of Delhi currently based in Dubai, UAE; Faridoon Amani aka Javed Amani and Abdul Salam Noorzai, both residents of Afghanistan; Mohammad Iqbal Awan, a native of J&K’s Uri who is residing at Muhajir Camp in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir; Mohammad Hussain Dad aka Mohd Hussain Shah and Mohammad Hasan Shah – both residents of Afghanistan.
The NIA also named Machavaram Sudhakar and Rajkumar Perumal from Tamil Nadu.
During the further probe, it was found that there is an organized criminal conspiracy to smuggle illegal consignments of heroin through international trade routes to India from Afghanistan, hatched by the accused, an NIA spokesman said.
“While investigating forward and backward linkages of the crime, a well-oiled network of operatives involved in the import, facilitation and transport of drug-laden consignments have been uncovered. It has also been revealed that consignments were being imported through multiple fake/shell import proprietorship firms floated in India through multiple accused,” he said.
“The prime accused Talwar visited Dubai on multiple occasions and wilfully participated in the conspiracy for exploiting the commercial sea route of import, in order to smuggle heroin into India in commercial quantities,” the official said.
As per the NIA, over a dozen such firms have been identified and investigated, including the charge-sheeted firm, Magent India. This company was used to import and receive heroin disguised as semi-processed talc stone from Afghanistan to India.
The official said that during the investigation it has emerged that an organized network of syndicate members was being run by foreign based narcotic traders for importing the heroin-laden consignments into Indian Ports (Mundra, Kolkata) and its further delivery to various warehouses located at New Delhi.
“The India-based network of Afghan nationals was responsible for hiring these warehouses and for processing/extracting and distributing the heroin once it reached New Delhi. The investigation established that funds generated through the sale proceeds of heroin were provided to operatives of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the furtherance of terrorist activities in India,” the official added.
Last year, the NIA carried out searches at several locations linked to Talwar and his employees and also at various warehouses in Delhi.