ED launches money laundering probe into seizure of 3,000 Kg Heroin

The Enforcement Directorate(ED)has launched a money laundering investigation into the seizure of 3,000 kg of heroin – worth nearly Rs 20,000 crore – from the port of Mundra in Gujarat. Recovered Monday, the drugs were part of a shipment of talc from Afghanistan that arrived in India via Iran, according to news agency AFP. 2,000 kg were found in one container and the rest in another. The drugs were seized after physical verification of the substance. Officials said the drugs were packed into the bottom of bags, with layers of talc placed above to throw off suspicion.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), which conducted the seizure, has so far arrested two people and carried out searches in Ahmedabad, Chennai and Delhi. The haul has triggered a row given Gujarat is the home state of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister, with the Congress leaping to criticise the ruling BJP ahead of next year's election.Addressing a press conference in Delhi this evening, leader Pawan Khera asked the BJP "can (you) tell us why Gujarat has become such a hotbed for drug smuggling?" The Congress also took a swipe at the BJP over the Narcotics Control Bureau's high-profile investigation of alleged drug abuse surrounding the death of actor Sushant Rajput last year.