Drug cartel busted, 46 kg dope found from house in Paldi

Ankur JainAnkur Jain, TNN | Dec 7, 2011, 04.24AM IST

AHMEDABAD: The drug racket busted at Ahmedabad airport's cargo complex by the DRI is linked to an international drug cartel. The racket, said the DRI officials, had its headquarters in Ahmedabad.

On Monday, the DRI officials raided the house belonging to the owner of the courier company involved in the smuggling and recovered another 46 kg of psychotropic drugs. The DRI probe has found that the parcels seized from the airport were allegedly sent by city-based Anshanu Export to the US and UK. The seizure followed searches carried out at the export company's office at CG Road and firm owner's residence at Paldi.

"Operations of Anshanu Exports are managed by Sujal Patel, who has been earlier caught for smuggling of branded cigarettes to evade duty. After Sunday's seizure, a raid was carried out at the export firm's office at CG Road and Patel's residence at Amrut Apartment, Paldi. Apart from the drugs, officials have also recovered documents suggesting Patel's association with an international drug cartel. Patel and his wife are missing," said a DRI source.

Sources said that the DRI officials found several packets of alprazolam and other psychotropic drug tablets from Patel's house. The officials said that in 2008, Patel was arrested by customs department in a cigarette smuggling case, following which his export license was cancelled. Later, Patel floated another company, Anshanu Exports, in the name of his wife and continued his operations.

"We got suspicious when we found that the sender's and receiver's addresses on the packets being sent through courier were fictitious. Soon after the operation, Patel and his wife fled from the city," the source added.

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