News Analysis India

Tag: Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad

  • Gujarat ATS raids factory near Vadodara, recovers drugs worth Rs 500 crore

    By PTI

    AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad has raided a manufacturing unit on the outskirts of Vadodara city and seizes a huge cache of the banned MD drug worth around Rs 500 crore, an ATS official said on Wednesday.

    During the raid at the small factory-cum-godown near Vadodara on Tuesday night, the ATS also apprehended five persons from the spot, he said.

    A preliminary investigation revealed the accused were making the MD drug, a narcotic substance, in the guise of manufacturing chemicals legally, the official said.

    The operation is still on to bust the entire network, he said without giving more details.

    In August this year, the ATS had seized more than 200 kilogram of party drug mephedrone worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore from a warehouse near Vadodara city, officials earlier said.

    AHMEDABAD: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad has raided a manufacturing unit on the outskirts of Vadodara city and seizes a huge cache of the banned MD drug worth around Rs 500 crore, an ATS official said on Wednesday.

    During the raid at the small factory-cum-godown near Vadodara on Tuesday night, the ATS also apprehended five persons from the spot, he said.

    A preliminary investigation revealed the accused were making the MD drug, a narcotic substance, in the guise of manufacturing chemicals legally, the official said.

    The operation is still on to bust the entire network, he said without giving more details.

    In August this year, the ATS had seized more than 200 kilogram of party drug mephedrone worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore from a warehouse near Vadodara city, officials earlier said.

  • 75 kg heroin, worth Rs 375 crore, seized from container at Mundra port

    Express News Service

    AHMEDABAD/CHANDIGARH:  In a joint operation, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), Punjab Police and central agencies recovered 75kg heroin, estimated to be worth over Rs 375 crore, from a container near Mundra port in Kutch district.

    The Director-General of Police, Punjab, Gaurav Yadav said in Chandigarh on Tuesday that the contraband was kept concealed in a container carrying unstitched clothes. The container, which was loaded from Jebel Ali port in the UAE, was booked by an importer from Malerkotla, Punjab.

    “Based on the tip-off from Punjab Police, the ATS searched the shipping container, which had arrived from Dubai and was kept at a container freight station outside the port. The ATS found nearly 75 kg of heroin concealed in the cargo,” Gujarat ATS DIG Dipen Bhadran said. The consignment was opened in the presence of customs officials.

    Gujarat DGP Ashish Bhatia said, “There was specific intelligence input that a few containers imported from Dubai by ‘Green Forest General Trading’ Company, carrying ‘clothes’ were lying at the Mundra container freight station for some time.

    Since India is a leading textile exporter, the police got suspicious as to why should somebody import clothes in large quantities from Dubai. On inspection, the ATS personnel unearthed a large quantity of drugs from the containers.”

    The police got suspicious as the containers were filled only one-third, which seldom happens. “There were 540 textile rolls, out of which 64 carried heroin. To bypass the X-ray machine, plastic wrappers were used to conceal the drugs, while cello tapes were used to cover the plastic layer,” Bhatia said. 

    Drug Seizures in Gujarat Recently

     Sept. 2021: Largest seizure of narcotic substances in India reported at Mundra port
     Feb. 2022: 750 kg drugs worth over Rs 2,000 crore seized from ship off Gujarat coast
     From 2019-2021, contraband weighing 437 kg, worth Rs 2,100 crore, recovered; 73 persons held I3,000 Kg drugs worth Rs 21,000 crore were seized