A recent drug bust by the Bengaluru Customs involving a consignment reportedly booked from Vijayawada to Australia has left officials baffled, even as reports have emerged of yet another major drug haul at Mundra port in Gujarat having links to Vijayawada.
The consignment was booked by a courier firm from Vijayawada to Australia on January 31. However, the consignment reportedly circled the globe, making its way to Canada instead of Australia due to a wrong address being given by the despatcher, and eventually ended up back in Bengaluru where it was seized by Customs officials.
Investigators are now trying to ascertain how a parcel containing 4.5 kg of drugs managed to pass undetected through several layers of security, that too at multiple airports.
An international domestic courier service, which booked the parcel, had sent the consignment to its Hyderabad office, from where it was transported to Canada instead of Australia.
“It is surprising how the parcel made its way to Canada, even if the address was wrongly written on the consignment, and then came back to Bengaluru, and how the accused managed to get hold of such a large quantity of ephedrine drug powder in Vijayawada,” an investigating officer said.
The NTR District Commissionerate Police investigating the racket arrested a courier firm employee named G. Teja who had booked the parcel in his own name by using his Aadhaar card as proof of identity. Teja, hailing from Nagula Lanka village in East Godavari district, was working for the firm for the last four years.
Upon interrogation, police learnt that the parcel was given to Teja by a man who introduced himself as K. Gopi Sai. The man had met Teja thrice, and had reportedly requested Teja to book the consignment in the latter’s name claiming that his Aadhaar card details were too blurry.
Police are now suspecting that the man deliberately did not give his identity proof in order to throw law enforcement off his scent.
“The accused had labelled the consignment as saris. We are investigating whether the courier company had colluded with the drug racketeer, and if so, how many consignments were sent so far and the destinations to which they were sent,” said a police officer.
Major haul
In September last year, Customs and other law enforcement agencies conducted raids at Mundra Port in Gujarat and seized 2,998.22 kg of heroin, worth about ₹21,000 crore.
Sleuths of the Directorate of Revenue Iintelligence (DRI) found that the consignment was booked on the GST number of Aashi Trading Company, located at Gadiyaramvaari Street of Satyanarayanapuram in Vijayawada.
Investigators learnt that the firm was registered by one Govindaraju Durga Purna Vaishali, wife of Machavaram Sudhakar, in August 2020. Vaishali had obtained an Import and Export License Code (IEC) from the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT). The accused were arrested and the case is under investigation.
