The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a West Bengal business person in the September 2021 Mundra Port drug haul case. This is the 26th arrest related to the operation of the most significant international drug smuggling syndicate run by the Afghan brothers Hassan Dad and Hussain Dad, wanted by the NIA.
The NIA said in a statement that Sushant Sarkar, a businessman from the Malda district of West Bengal, was arrested for his alleged involvement in the illegal supply of heroin to India to support terrorist activities.
“The government ordered a heroin-laden shipment of semi-processed talc from Afghanistan to India via Iran in November. He used his firm ‘Jesus Christ Impex’ for this, taking the consignment to the firm of another accused, Kabir Talwar, in Delhi. The consignment was unloaded by members of the heroin smuggling syndicate, who are charge-sheeted in the case,” claimed the NIA. Talwar is the proprietor of Playboy Club in Delhi’s Samrat Hotel.
According to the NIA, the Dada brothers have transported several heroin consignments to India through containers by sea. Heroin was purified in Afghanistan and hidden in other accoutrements similar to semi-processed talc and bituminous coal. These consignments were then sent through trucks to Indian ports of Gujarat and Kolkata and further to New Delhi,” the NIA said.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence had, on September 13 last year, seized 2,988 kg of heroin smuggled from Afghanistan from a container freight station at the Mundra port in Gujarat and registered a case. The NIA registered the case again on October 6.
In its first charge sheet filed against 16 people in March this year, the NIA claimed that those involved in the racket have links with terror groups in Pakistan. A supplementary charge sheet was filed against nine more accused on August 29.
