Gujarat ATS nabs man wanted in seizure of drugs worth Rs 2,500 crore

A man allegedly involved in smuggling 530 kg of heroin worth around Rs 2,500 crore into the country via sea route from Pakistan on different occasions was arrested by the Gujarat ATS at the Delhi airport on Thursday, officials said.

Shahid Kasam Sumra (35), a resident of Mandvi in Kutch district, was also allegedly involved in "narco-terrorism", as he funded terror activities with the money acquired from the illegal drug trade, they said.

The accused was nabbed by a team of Anti-Terrorist Squad as soon as he landed at the airport in the national capital from abroad, the ATS said in a release.

Four cases were lodged against him between 2018 and 2021 in Gujarat and Punjab, following the seizure of 530 kg of heroin worth around Rs 2,500 crore during that period from different parts of the two states.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had taken over the probe into three of those cases, while one case is with the Gujarat ATS. According to the release, the ATS recently learnt that Sumra was also involved in "narco-terrorism" as he gave money, acquired through the illegal drug trade, to those involved in terror activities.

He was on the run and had been hiding in various Gulf and African countries ever since his name first surfaced when the ATS seized 5 kg of 'Pakistan-origin' heroin from Salaya town of Gujarat's Devbhoomi Dwarka district in August 2018.

A probe later revealed that Sumra and other accused had smuggled a total of 500 kg of heroin worth over Rs 2,300 crore from Pakistan through sea route and unloaded the consignment on Gujarat's Mandvi coast in August 2018.

Later, Sumra and his aides sent the contraband to Punjab in trucks, the ATS said. They sent 300 kg of drugs in three trips to Punjab at the behest of one Simranjit Singh Sandhu, who was recently held by the Interpol in Italy, the release said.

After some time, Sumra's associates transported the remaining 200 kg of heroin to Sandhu's contacts at Amritsar in Punjab, it said. Out of this consignment, the Punjab STF seized 188 kg and 5 kg of the contraband in separate operations, the ATS said, adding that the NIA is now conducting a probe into these cases, and Sumra was also wanted in this connection.

In April this year, the ATS and the Indian Coast Guard intercepted a boat near the Gujarat coast and apprehended eight Pakistani nationals with 30 kg of heroin worth around Rs 150 crore. It later came to light that the accused were planning to smuggle the drug into Gujarat at the behest of Sumra, the ATS said.