Gujarat ATS seizes 35kg heroin in Delhi, Muzaffarnagar

In yet another major seizure of narcotics, a Gujarat anti-terrorist squad (ATS) team seized 35kg of heroin, valued at Rs 175 crore in the international market, during raids in Delhi and Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, on Wednesday. Four persons have been arrested.

This action came after the nine crew members of a Pakistani boat, who were caught with 56kg of heroin in a mid-sea operation on Monday, provided intelligence inputs about the local recipients. 

Gujarat ATS received an input that the drug syndicate was run by one Raji Hyder Zaidi and Avtar Singh alias Sunny from Okhla in Delhi, with Imran Amir from Muzaffarnagar and an Afghan national, Abdulla Raab from Kandahar, who was living in Lajpatnagar in Delhi.

Based on the input, an ATS team first caught Zaidi and Amir from the outskirts of Delhi. On checking their SUV, 1kg of heroin was found. 

Later, teams of Gujarat ATS and Delhi NCB (Narcotics Control Bureau) caught Singh and Raab at a godown in Muzaffarnagar, where 34kg of heroin and 2.75kg of acetic anhydride were found. Heroin is made by treating morphine with acetyl chloride or acetic anhydride.

Sources in the Gujarat police said Raab and Singh were being taken to the ATS headquarters and Zaidi and Amir were arrested by NCB Delhi, which will file a separate case under the NDPS (Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act.