ED chargesheets 18 accused in 2019 Attari heroin seizure case

The Enforcement Directorate has chargesheeted 18 accused entities and individuals, including Pakistani and Afghan nationals, in connection with the seizure of 532-kg heroin and 52-kg mixed narcotics at Attari check post in Punjab’s Amritsar in June 2019. The heroin is suspected to be of Afghan origin.

The agency launched its probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, based on the cases registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Punjab Police.

The contraband was detected by the Customs Department on June 29, 2019. Subsequently, the owner of Amritsar-based Kanishk Enterprises, Gurpinder Singh, was picked up from the spot and Tariq Ahmed Lone of Handwara in Jammu & Kashmir was arrested later.

The NIA took over the case and filed chargesheets against “mastermind” Ranjeet Singh Rana, Iqbal Singh, Tariq Lone, his Pakistan-based relative Farookh Lone, Ajay Gupta, Pakistani national Sohaib Noor, Afghan national Sahil, besides Kanishk Enterprises, Gupta Fast Forwarders, Global Vision Impex (Lahore, Pakistan), and Aimex General Trading Company (Pakistan), and others.

It found that the drugs was sent via Vision Impex Company owned by Sohaib Noor, also linked to his brother Amir and Sahil. The consignments were received in Amritsar allegedly through Rishabh Overseas, Kanishk Enterprises, and Gupta Fast Forwards Limited.

According to the ED, the network had been used to smuggle a total of 890 kg of heroin and 52 kg of mixed narcotics in six tranches, of which the last one was seized.

Via “hawala” channels, the suppliers from Pakistan and Afghanistan routed money into India. Their associate collected the funds from local operators, deposited them into his own bank accounts and transferred the same to the accounts of Indian entities, which were used to pay off Indian Customs duties, port charges, and formally remit payments back to Pakistani exporters. All this was done to project the transactions to be part of a legal business activity, said the ED.

After clearance, the consignments would be stored in temporary godowns and then transported to a final distribution point, from where main accused Rana and Iqbal Singh collected the drugs for further supply. Earlier, 358 kg of heroin had been brought in five tranches, Rs.8.60 crore in commissions made and the proceeds sent to Dubai via “hawala”, it is alleged.

Rana and Iqbal Singh allegedly sold the drugs and invested the funds so generated in properties. “Ranjeet Rana and his brother Sarwan Singh utilised the formal banking system to layer the illicit cash by depositing massive sums into various bank accounts,” said the agency, adding that the money was routed via complex cheque transfers to obscure the trail. It was then used to buy properties in the names of Rana’s family members and third-party “benamidars”. Substantial sums were paid in cash as sale considerations.

As alleged, Iqbal Singh used illicit “hawala” channels to sent over Rs.4.20 crore to Dubai in April 2019 and also bought agricultural land in his own name. The ED has so far attached assets worth about Rs.3.61 crore in the case. The chargesheet (prosecution complaint) has been filed in a Mohali special court.

While investigating a similar modus operandi, the NIA had earlier found that the drug proceeds were also being used allegedly to fund Hizb-ul-Mujahideen terrorists in the Kashmir Valley.