DRI reaps rich dividend from 'Operation Black Thunder'
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has seized narcotics with a street value of over Rs 200 crore in the current year in 'Operation Black Thunder'.
The Directorate as part of its measures to clamp down on narcotics cartels and fake Indian currency racketeers had started the operation earlier this year.
As part of the mission, the DRI had ramped up its intelligence mechanism and started focusing on cross-border drug cartels and those indulging in circulating fake currency, sources said.
It has seized about 110 kg of heroin valued at about 110 crore, most of which were of Afghanistan-origin brought into the country through Indo-Pak border.
The DRI has also seized 45,000 kg of ganja during the same period besides 84 kg of hashish and nearly 2000 kg Ketamine or what is commonly known as 'date rape drug'.
Sources said most of the narcotics seized were meant to be smuggled out of the country with India being used as a transit point.
As part of its crackdown on fake currency racketeers, the DRI had earlier this week arrested a Pakistani woman from Mumbai who had brought in counterfeit notes with a face value of Rs 18 lakh, all in Rs 500 denominations.
Sources said the woman, who had brought in the FICN (fake Indian currency notes) consignment from Karachi via Dubai, is a major catch for Indian security agencies as till now almost all arrests related to FICN were of Indians, who brought in such notes through trains.
The only other known arrest of a Pakistani national in this regard in the recent past was that of Asghar Ali Abdul Hussain Abuli, an alleged kingpin of the FICN racket in the country, by Gujarat Police's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS).
In the last three years, the DRI has seized FICN with a face value of nearly Rs 7.5 crore.
