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By Arvind Ojha: With one of the biggest seizures of drugs off the Kerala coast by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Saturday, the anti-drugs agency has so seized drugs worth Rs 40,000 crore in a year under Operation Samudragupt.
The first success of ‘Operation Samudragupt’ came in February 2022, when a joint operation by the NCB and the Indian Navy led to the seizure of 529 kg of hashish, 221kg of methamphetamine, and 13kg of heroin in the high seas off the coast of Gujarat, all sourced from Baluchistan and Afghanistan.
In its second successful operation, in October 2022, the team intercepted an Iranian boat off the coast of Kerala. A total of 200 kg of high-grade heroin sourced from Afghanistan was seized, and six Iranian drug traffickers were apprehended.
The drug cartel is said to be operated by Haji Salim from Pakistan, who is being tracked by the Indian intelligence wings.
In the recent seizure of the drugs, the nexus of Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI and the underworld have also come to the fore. The proceeds from drugs were purportedly used to fund the ISI.
In an exclusive interview with India Today, Deputy Director General of NCB, Sanjay Singh, said under Operation Samudragupt, launched in February 2022, it was found that marine routes were used to smuggle drugs.
“We have started the Operation with the help of the Indian Navy and coastguard. In the crackdown, smugglers based in Pakistan, Bahrain and Dubai were monitored”, he said.
“We have not been able to reach Haji Salim till now, but according to the intelligence report, he is in Pakistan. The former Prime Minister of Pakistan has also admitted that the drug money is used to fund the ISI. We have also shared some inputs with Maldives and Sri Lanka. We have so far seized drugs worth about four thousand crores. Its price in the international market is rupees 40 thousand crores,” he added.
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