Author:
Publication: The Times of India
Date: July 29, 2000
The ISI seems to be getting more
leeway along the border ever since General Musharraf took over the reigns
in Pakistan, going by inferences of the Narcotics Control Bureau in Gujarat.
The theory is supported by a spate
of seizures of arms and narcotics in the last one week from Ahmedabad,
Vadodara and Deesa. On July 24, 25 crude bombs were found at Vadodara and
six policemen were injured as one of the bombs went off while being defused;
on the same day 25 Chinese pistols were seized along with 6.30 kg of heroin
in Ahmedabad while 10 kg of brown sugar was seized in Deesa the following
day.
Barmer and Jodhpur seem to have
become the most preferred "landing stations" of narcotics from across the
border. According to intelligence reports, at least 100 kgs of brown sugar
was "waiting" to be transferred clandestinely at Jodhpur, informed highly-placed
sources. Speaking to The Times of India following the Deesa operation on
Wednesday, zonal director of the NCB P.S. Tomar said, "Over the past two
years, the influx of narcotics from Pakistan has increased compared to
the inflow from Nepal and Burma." This indicates that the Musharraf regime
might be responsible, he felt.
"Gujarat is no longer preferred
as a transaction route due to its high conviction rate compared to Delhi
and Chennai," he said. "The traffic has increased along the Pakistan- Rajasthan-Delhi-Chennai-Sri
Lanka route from where it is routed to the Western countries," he said,
referring to the rise in drug trafficking in Chennai and Delhi.
While NCB officials see no link
between the Sarkhej heroin seizure and Tuesday's brown sugar haul, both
the consignments originated in Pakistan and were headed for Mumbai. They
were off-loaded at Jodhpur or Barmer.
Intelligence officers of the NCB-Upendra
Patel and Jitendra Raghuvanshi-who carried out the operation under Mr Tomar's
supervision, told reporters that the owner-driver of the truck carrying
the narcotics Nawab Khan alias Akbar Khan Muse Khan Mangaliya has confessed
procuring the consignment from one Surya of Umarkot in Pakistan. It was
to be delivered to one Faroukh.
Nawab and his younger brother Baval
(26) were apprehended after Mr Patel and Mr Raghuvanshi kept a watch at
Jyot Hotel on the Deesa-Palanpur highway on Tuesday evening.
The brown sugar, neatly packed in
cello-taped packets, was hidden in the truck's seat. The packets were stamped
with stars and had the marking '007' on them.
Though the NCB had been tipped off
that 10 kg of heroin would be coming in, only five one-kg packets were
found in the truck. During interrogation, Nawab Khan confessed he had delivered
the rest to one Ismailbhai at his house at Gavadi in Deesa. The NCB officials
then tracked down Ismail alias Babu Mutlibbhai Shaikh, who runs a transport
company, and recovered the rest of the consignment. Nawab Khan has also
confessed that the drug had been bought at Rs 1.25 lakh per kg and was
to be sold at Rs 2.50 lakh a kg.
