MUMBAI: The recent seizure of narcotic contraband weighing 3000 kg, namely heroin at Adani port at Mundra in Gujarat has raised eyebrows both in political circles and also global watchers on the drug trial. The contraband worth Rs 15,000 crores was rated as the biggest catch in the world narco trade in recent years. 

According to sources in the drug cartel, such large contraband seizures are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. "For every 10 consignments that get smuggled into the country, the smugglers permit one such consignment to get caught, thereby allowing the enforcement agencies to paint the picture that they are diligently doing their work," one of the sources said. He further said, "The contrabands or consignments were not only about narcotic seizures. They also included the smuggling of foreign cigarettes and even bearings used by Indian industrial houses, including those in the MSME sector.

There was also a sharp reaction from political quarters about Gujarat serving as the touchpoint for smuggling of narcotic drugs despite a hawkish BJP government in power at both the state and Central levels. Several observers contended that while the nodal agency, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) showed relentless zeal in grabbing people in possession of a few grams of heroin or hafim as it's locally known, their vigil on smuggling in of such huge consignments of narcotic substances has always been below par. The current seizure at the Mundra port, had the Adanis Group react that none of the port operators had any policing rights over containers and the job done by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) was commendable.

Sources say that there are frequent landings of narcotic contraband on the Gujarat coast. "The drugs emanated from Pakistan, Iran or Afghanistan. The recent seizure is attributed by official sources to be consequent of the Taliban taking over in the Afghan territories. However, the fact remains that the consignments of such scale and at times lesser than this found their way into the Gujarat coast frequently in recent years." Pointing out that peninsular India had a long coastline the query arose from opposition quarters as to why the Gujarat coast served as the preferred destination point for smuggling in of narcotic contraband.  He pointed out that though landing on the Gujarat coast, the contraband was intended for different destinations in India including the National Capital Region (NCR) under New Delhi.

Sources from the drug syndicate also informed our SIT that the scale of operations was massive as compared to the quantities involved in the occasional seizures that are allowed to take place. While the claim that port authorities had no policing rights over container traffic that landed at the docks, it should also be noted that both seizures and interceptions of such consignments were the job of nodal revenue agencies that included both Directorate of Revenue Intelligence as well as the Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) besides the coast guard ships that were on vigil.  He further disclosed the eighties era when Arab Dhows used to land on the Bombay coast offloading huge quantities of contraband that included both bullion metals like gold and silver besides narcotic drugs. "Post the liberalization era, the focus shifted and the contraband mostly comprised narcotic drugs," he said.  

He further said, the proverbial "follow the money" trail has inducted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to join in on the investigations. "However, the money trail will not be easy to uncover given that money gets laundered through the "hawala route" and in the absence of any physical money transfer operations, it was difficult to trace both the beneficiaries and the people routing it," he added.

Meanwhile, Congress top brass from the state made pointed queries on the continuing spate of narcotic drugs landing on the Gujarat coast, seeking to know, "Why despite both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah hailing from the state, besides Gujarat having a BJP government installed, the continuous spate of the landing of narcotic contraband goes by and largely unchecked?"