The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday carried out raids in Delhi on businessman Harpreet Singh Talwar alias Kabir Talwar and others in connection with the 2021 drug bust at Mundra port in Gujarat, where 2,988 kg of Afghan heroin worth 2,988 kg was seized. $The Directorate of Revenue and Intelligence (DRI) has intercepted Rs 21,000 crore, people aware of the developments said.
Mundra port seized drugs worth about 3,000 kg of Afghan heroin $The Rs 21,000-crore shipment, intercepted in September 2021, was one of the largest consignments to ever come to India via the sea route.
HT exclusively reported on this drug bust in 2021.
Although there has been a Prevention of Money Laundering Act or PMLA investigation into the matter since 2021, the Enforcement Directorate launched fresh raids on Wednesday based on certain new inputs, according to officials.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Kabir Talwar in August 2022 and later indicted him for participating in a Pakistan-backed conspiracy to smuggle high-grade drugs into India. He was recently released on bail, an officer said.
Officials said on Wednesday that five buildings in Delhi belonging to Talwar, Shamsuddin and their associates were searched.
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“The money generated from drug trafficking was allegedly invested in night clubs in Delhi,” the above-mentioned officer said.
The NIA in its investigation into the Mundra drug case found that the money generated from the drugs that came to Mundra was intended for terrorists.
The NIA filed its first chargesheet in the Mundra case on March 14, 2022, against 16 members of the cartel, including Afghan and Iranian nationals and several Indians; A second indictment against nine suspects in August 2022.
Regarding Pakistan, the NIA chargesheet said: “It has been revealed that drug smugglers enjoy the patronage of security agencies of Pakistan and Afghanistan and smuggle drugs via sea routes up to Indian ports via Iran. Thereafter, these consignments are transported via routes to the interior parts of India.”
She said that this international conspiracy was not only related to a single shipment, but rather included a series of shipments imported from Afghanistan to India with the prior intention of achieving huge illegal financial gains to finance terrorist activities and the circulation and consumption of drugs among the youth of India, thus affecting the health of the nation.
Regarding Talwar’s role, the NIA said that at a time when the Pakistan-backed syndicate was looking to push huge quantities of drugs stored in Afghanistan during the Covid-19 pandemic and uncertainty over the Taliban takeover of the country, Delhi nightclub tycoon Harpeet Singh, popularly known as Kabir Talwar, used the opportunity to smuggle drugs into India through his companies as he saw “low risks and high returns in the illegal business”.
The NIA said Talwar was compensated heavily for facilitating the smuggling of “hundreds of kilograms of heroin” through ports, the proceeds of which were actually intended for the terrorist activities of the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen.
In its charge sheet, the Federal Anti-Terrorism Investigation Agency has detailed the methods used by the businessman to import contraband goods through Indian ports.
The agency found that behind his legal businesses, the serial entrepreneur was found involved in conspiracies in all kinds of shadowy, illegal and criminal activities.
“His journey into the criminal world began with small illegal offenses, including tax evasion and customs duty evasion. However, he soon got involved in smuggling of contraband into India,” according to details of the charge sheet and NIA investigation reports, reviewed by HT.
In fact, he was previously arrested by DRI in March 2022 in a case of smuggling 21,60,000 pieces of Gudang Garam cigarettes from Nhava Sheva port in Maharashtra. He remained in prison for a few weeks before being released on bail.
“He resorted to bribing officials and used loopholes in the systems installed at the ports to successfully carry out smuggling,” which further encouraged him to commit bigger crimes, the NIA claims.
For business purposes, he frequently traveled to Dubai. During the Covid-19 crisis, he came into contact with a person named Vitesh Kauser, alias Raju Dubai, a prominent UAE-based smuggler known for clearing illegal commercial consignments at Indian ports.
Talwar was named by the NIA as a key player in the international drug smuggling syndicate of Afghan heroin through Indian ports, mainly run by Pakistan’s spy agency – Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Raju Dubai was in touch with the cartel leaders in Kandahar – Hassan Dad and his brother Hussain Dad, both working for the ISI, to send heroin to India from Afghanistan, through the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
“The Talwar senior was happy to commit as he saw low risks and high returns in the business,” NIA said.
