THE TWO RUST-BROWN SHIPPING containers from Iran were among thousands stacked in neat rows like toy bricks in India’s largest sea port, Mundra. For the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials who had zeroed in on the shipment, these 20feetlong containers originat ing in Iran’s Bandar Abbas port and dispatched to Gujarat’s arid Kutch district, were like two needles in a very giant haystack. The port receives 5.6 million such containers each year. However, it was the consignor that piqued the sleuths’ interest—Hasan Husain Ltd, a firm based in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan. The shipment of talc stones, a clay mineral used as raw material for cosmetics, was headed for Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and meant for a Chennaibased couple, Machavaram Sudhakar and his wife Vaisali. When DRI sleuths opened the containers on September 15, they spotted hundreds of white synthetic bags, each large enough to seat an adult. Beneath the looselypacked talc stones was 3.2 tonne of pure Afghan heroin. It was one of India’s largest drug hauls. The quantity was, as one government official put it, enough to drug Mumbai’s 12 million citizens. The drugs would have sold on the streets of Mumbai for some Rs 3,000 crore. With the Mundra seizures, the total heroin haul this year has crossed six tonne, double the 3.2 tonne and 3.8 tonne seized in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
Bu hikaye India Today dergisinin October 18, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye India Today dergisinin October 18, 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Congress 'EQ' Vs BJP ‘IQ'
Team Modi Is Riding On Its Assembly Poll Momentum, But The Congress's Clever Candidate Mix May Prevent A Washout
The Macallan M 2023 debuts in India
Standing as a pinnacle of exclusivity, The Macallan M 2023 graces the shores of India with limited 10 handpicked bottles for whisky aficionados
Give it up for the science bros
They've got brains, brawn and billions in the bank. A new breed of wellness guru is doing for men what Gwyneth Paltrow did for women.
LIVING BY THE RULES
Chetan Bhagat returns to non-fiction with his new book-11 Rules for Life
The Mysterious City
Anuradha Kumar's The Kidnapping of Mark Twain paints an intriguing portrait of Bombay around the time of the American writer's visit
GOWDA KNOWS
Hot Stage, the third book in Anita Nair's Inspector Gowda mystery series, is here
WITH OUR OWN DESI SLEUTHS
Indian detective fiction gets its due in this massive, two-volume compilation from Hachette
PRIVATE PARADISE
Your home may well be your haven, but here are easy ways to make it your very own spa-dom.
Subversive IN SUBURBIA
A MONTH-LONG SHOW AT ART AND CHARLIE, MUMBAI, SHOWCASING THE WORKS OF POONAM JAIN AND YOGESH BARVE POSES SEVERAL QUESTIONS TO THE VIEWER
THE HOME THAT WAS
A soon-to-launch gallery at the Partition Museum in Delhi will showcase artefacts capturing 'The Lost Homeland of Sindh'