NIA files 3rd charge-sheet in Mundra Port Narcotics case
May 12, 2023
New Delhi [India], May 12 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed its third supplementary charge-sheet against another accused in the Mundra Port case related to the seizure of 2,988 kg heroin.
The consignment was smuggled into India from Afghanistan via Bandar Abbas, Iran in 2021.
With this, a total of 42 individuals and seven firms have so far been charge-sheeted in the case.
The charge-sheet was filed in the NIA Special Court, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, naming one Pankaj Vaid alias Amit alias Noni Sunaira alias Sanju Baba, a resident of Amritsar Punjab. He has been charged under various sections of IPC and NDPS Act, 1985.
Pankaj is accused of being a part of the organized criminal conspiracy to smuggle illegal consignments of heroin through international trade routes to India from Afghanistan. As per NIA investigations, Pankaj was associated with foreign-based narcotics traders involved in pushing drugs into India.
NIA investigations have further revealed that Pankaj had facilitated the processing and extraction of heroin and later sold the extracted heroin in India in the case registered on June 10, 2021.
The case was initially registered by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Unit- Gandhidham, Gujarat under the provisions of the NDPS Act.
NIA took over the investigations on October 6, 2021, and filed a chargesheet against 16 accused persons on March 14, 2022. Subsequently, it filed the 1st Supplementary chargesheet against nine more persons on August 29, 2022, and the 2nd against seven firms and 15 individuals on February 20 this year.
