NEW DELHI: Thirty-five kgs of heroin has been seized by the NCB and the Gujarat ATS after they busted an Afghanistan-India narcotics smuggling ring being operated from Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district, officials said on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Narcotics Control Bureau said the initial input about the syndicate was shared by the Gujarat anti-terrorist squad following which the two agencies intercepted two Muzaffarnagar residents in Delhi and about 1 kg heroin was recovered from their vehicle.
A probe found that an Afghan-India drug syndicate has been active for the last few months, the NCB said in a statement.
"They have been smuggling goods to India through maritime and land border route wherein heroin was concealed. The narcotics was later extracted from those goods by the Indian counterparts with the help of Afghan mules in the Muzaffarnagar store house," the statement said.
A cache of 34 kgs of heroin and 2.75 kgs of acetic anhydride (a chemical used to manufacture drugs) was recovered from the Muzaffarnagar store house following raids by the two agencies, it said.
The total seizure of heroin is about 35 kgs in this operation and further investigation is being conducted to identify other links and people involved, a senior officer said.