The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) today has got the custody of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in connection with a case of cross-border smuggling of drugs.
A Delhi court on Monday granted the transit remand of Bishnoi, who is lodged in Tihar jail, to the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad.
Therefore, the ATS wants to question the gangster about his possible links in connection with the seizure 40 kg of heroin. The heroin worth more than ₹200 crore from a Pakistani fishing boat in the Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast in September last year.
A senior ATS official stated that “We have got Bishnoi’s custody and our teams are already on the way to Gujarat. He will be produced in a court in Kutch district by Tuesday evening.”
Last year, on September 14, the Gujarat ATS in a joint operation with the Indian Coast Guard intercepted a Pakistani fishing boat mid-sea near Jakhau harbor in Kutch district and seized 40 kg of heroin worth more than ₹200 crore.
6 Pakistani nationals on board the boat, named ‘Al Tayyasa’, were also arrested at that time.
Subsequently, investigations revealed that the heroin was meant to be transported to northern states like Delhi and Punjab by road with the help of two Delhi residents – Sartaj Malik and Jaggi Singh alias Virpal Singh – who were supposed to receive the contraband.
They were arrested later on.
Furthermore, the Gujarat police also said that the drugs were being smuggled as part of a racket run by two traffickers, including a Nigerian national, currently lodged in jails in Punjab.
The questioning of the 8 accused revealed that drug traffickers Meeraz Rehmani and Ani Chief Obinna alias Chief (who is a Nigerian) were running the racket while sitting in jail.
Rehmani was lodged at a jail in Kapurthala and Obinna in Amritsar jail. It is alleged that both of them were working at the behest of Bishnoi.
Earlier, police said that they were running the racket using WhatsApp and VOIP (Internet phone) calls.
In the Morbi drug seizure case of 2021, Gujarat police also found the role of Bharat Bhushan alias Bhola Shooter, a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang who was allegedly running the drug network from a Punjab jail.
Bhushan died in jail recently.
