The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has attached two properties of a notorious drug trafficker in connection with the seizure of about 103 kg of heroin smuggled from Afghanistan via the Attari border in Punjab’s Amritsar last year.
The accused has been identified as Razi Haider Zaidi, whose residential plot measuring 121.35 sq metres in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, and a residential two-storey building in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar have been attached. The first property was bought in his own name for ₹4 lakh and the second one was purchased for ₹24.50 lakh in his wife’s name.
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Zaidi was arrested by the NIA on October 24, 2022, and a charge sheet against him and three other co-accused was filed on December 16, 2022, under various Sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
Seizure by Customs
The heroin consignment weighing 102.78 kg had been seized by the Customs Department on April 24 and 26, 2022. The contraband, which reached the Customs check-point at Attari on April 22, 2022, was concealed in a consignment of licorice roots (mulethi). The NIA probe revealed that Zaidi was the alleged receiver.
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The agency found that, on the directions of Dubai-based absconding co-accused Shahid Ahmed, the contraband had been sent by Nazir Ahmed Qani, a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, and it was to be delivered to Zaidi, who had handed over ₹11 lakh in cash to another accused in advance for the purpose. It is alleged that Ahmed had directed Zaidi to collect and supply the heroin to his associates in different parts of the country, including Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat.
Zaidi had also collected about ₹2.50 crore in cash as heroin sale proceeds. “From this, he had taken his share and channelled some of the drug proceeds into the bank account of Ahmed. He handed over the rest in cash to Ahmed’s brother, Azeem Ahmed, and other associates of Ahmed,” according to the NIA.
In February 2022, Zaidi, along with Ahmed and Qani, also smuggled in heroin concealed in licorice roots imported from Afghanistan. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had seized about 50 kg of heroin from Zaidi, following which it registered a case against him and his associates. The NCB also filed a charge sheet.
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The NIA alleged that in February 2022, Zaidi had also imported 640 cans of chemicals via Iran for processing heroin at his rented godown in Muzaffarnagar, with the help of some Afghan nationals sent by Ahmed. They were later seized by the NCB in a joint operation with the Gujarat Anti-Terror Squad.
Earlier, in November 2021, Zaidi and two of his associates, named Avtar Singh and Mohammed Imran, had gone to Ahmedabad twice for the collection of narcotic drugs at Ahmed’s instance. The stuff was brought to Delhi and supplied to Ahmed’s contacts, as alleged.
