Surat: The Special Operation Group (SOG) and Crime Branch of the Surat Police have succeeded in intercepting the delivery of a large quantity of Afghani Charas by recovering more than 9 kg of a narcotic substance worth over Rs 4.5 crore from the Suvali beach of Surat.
DCP SOG Surat Rajdipsinh Nakum told The Organiser correspondent that their networking with human resources and fishermen who work around the beach helped make this huge haul that could potentially have ruined countless lives. “Friends of police, our eyes and ears in public places often alert us when they spot anything unusual or odd. Likewise, our informants alerted us to this cache of drugs – nine packages of charas, each weighing more than one kg and packed in plastic airtight wrappers. The packets bore Arabic writing indicating the origin as Afghanistan, with a label marked ‘Afghan product’. The packets lay in a closed bag on the Suvali section of the beach, unclaimed and unidentified,” Nakum told us.
SOG team member Police Inspector (PI) Ashok Chaudhary and Crime Branch PI Rajesh Suvera, along with their staff, arrived at the spot and recovered the charas after calling in the Forensic Science Laboratory Division (FSL) officials to identify the items.
Upon being asked about the possibility of such unidentified, abandoned items being booby-trapped with explosives, Nakum said, “We have to take calculated and studied risks as a part of the duty. However, we do follow the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to ensure the safety of those on duty.
The drug haul weighs a total of 9.59 kg and is valued at nearly five crores at the international level. Considering that the illicit market sells one kg of Afghani Charas at a price of 50 lakh rupees, the estimated worth of this Charas haul is over Rs. 4,79,50,000. Similarly marked and packaged Afghani Charas packets have been earlier caught by the police in Gandhidham and Kutch, Nakum told Organiser.
Drug smugglers frustrated due to stringent checks
Nakum also said that Surat Police have efficiently plugged the entry (smuggling) of drugs into Surat by land routes such as Ganja sourced from Odisha, Charas from Rajasthan, other manufactured drugs (MD) line cocaine and heroin from Maharashtra (Mumbai, to be exact). “We also have joint meetings with the Coast Guard officials from time to time,” Nakum said.
This is the first case of charas smuggling by sea coming to light in Surat, Nakum said. “We follow our Commissioner Ajay Kumar Tomar saheb’s slogan “NO DRUGS IN SURAT” and therefore smugglers are suffering due to this vigilance on our part. Their access through roads and railways being choked, they seem to have started looking at the sea route in desperation,” Nakum said.
Coastal smugglers are now using South Gujarat as their new route for drug trafficking. Surat Special Operations Group has now reached out to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) team for collaborating further on this probe. The various security and law and order teams will be looking into how the product from Afghanistan reached Indian shores via sea route despite there being no coastline to Afghanistan. Is there a Pakistan angle? Sindh (Pakistan) and Gujarat (India) are geographical neighbours and sit alongside on the coastline.
It is likely that for the fear of Indian coast guards the drug mafia disposed of a bag of charas into the sea from a ship or small boat, and that it was later washed ashore in tidal waters, presents Desh Gujarat.
Drug hauls in the rest of India
Meanwhile, in Jammu, the Border Security Forces (BSF) teams are making interceptions and hauls of smuggled drugs from various sources. ANI reports, “On the intervening night of 24/25 July, the vigilant BSF troops neutralised a Pak smuggler while he was trying to smuggle Narcotics through the Ramgarh border area. Four packets of suspected Narcotics (weighing approx 4 kgs) were found along with the body of the Pak smuggler. A further search of the area is under progress: PRO BSF Jammu”.
DIG BSF Vijay Thapliyal says, “BSF alert troops in Ramgarh border area has neutralised one Pakistani smuggler. Troops observed suspicious movement and subsequently, the area was searched. We found approximately 4kg of narcotics drugs and Rs 330 (in Pakistan’s currency) also recovered from the site. Troops are on high alert.”
Similarly, in Assam, a joint team of Special Task Force (STF) and Cachar district police launched an operation and intercepted a four-wheeler in the Silchar area. “During the search, the team seized 2.5 kg of heroin, and one lakh Yaba tablets from the vehicle and arrested three persons. The value of seized drugs is estimated at around Rs 40-45 crores. Further investigation is underway: STF”
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