KOCHI: The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), which is probing the seizure of 217.5kg of heroin from two Indian fishing boats off the Kochi coast, is looking into the suspected link of a Karachi-based sugar manufacturer. The DRI will soon approach the Ernakulam District Sessions Court seeking the custody of the 20 persons arrested in the case.
DRI officials suspect that heroin was shifted to the Indian fishing vessels from a foreign fishing boat that set sail from the Iran coast. However, they believe the involvement of the Pakistani drug cartel.As per a report filed at the Thoppumpady Judicial First Class Magistrate court on Saturday, heroin was stored in nine plastic sacks -- three in a boat, ‘Little Jesus’, and six in vessel ‘Prince’. “The three white coloured sacks seized from ‘Little Jesus’ and three of the six sacks recovered from ‘Prince’ have the markings -- ‘Habib Sugar Mills Limited, emblem, White Refine Sugar, Product of Pakistan’, and other packing and product details -- on them,” the report stated.
According to DRI officials, Habib Sugar Mills is a listed company based in Karachi. “Preliminary probe revealed that the company is one of the leading sugar exporters in Pakistan. We are checking their involvement in narcotics smuggling. There is also the possibility that smugglers used sugar sacks to deceive officials,” sources said.
Of the 20 arrested, 18 persons are natives of Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu and two are from Thiruvananthapuram district. Meanwhile, the DRI is continuing with its raids in Kerala and Tamil Nadu as part of the probe and several persons are being summoned to the DRI Thiruvananthapuram office for the interrogation.
“From the evidence gathered so far, it appears that accused are members of an international drug cartel engaged in trafficking narcotic drugs in huge quantities from Pakistan to India via sea routes by employing local fishermen so as to dodge law enforcement agencies. Illicit trafficking of narcotic substances in such huge quantities promotes the availability and usage of the same among the youth is of immense threat to society,” said the report filed in the court.