532 kg heroin smuggled from Pak through trade route seized at Attari

In the biggest ever haul, the Customs Department seized 532 kg of suspected heroin, worth Rs 2,700 crore, smuggled in a truck through the trade route at the Attari border, officials said Sunday.

The consignment of heroin and another 52 kg of suspected mixed narcotics were concealed under hundreds of bags of rock salt in the truck, which arrived at Attari from Pakistan through Integrated Check Post (ICP) Saturday, Customs (Preventive) Commissioner Deepak Kumar Gupta said.

"In a major breakthrough in busting the international organised drug smuggling, the Customs Preventive Commissionerate, Amritsar has seized 532 kg of suspected heroin and 52 kg of suspected mixed narcotics in the import consignment at ICP, Attari," he said.

This is the biggest-ever achievement in annals of the Indian Customs history, Gupta said.

On Saturday, at about 1330 hours, during examination of the consignment of rock salt, one sack was found to have a white coloured powder substance.

On detailed examination of 600 bags, 15 were suspected to contain narcotic material. On further examination of the 15 bags, they were found to contain heroin of a net weight of 532 kg and mixed narcotics of 52 kg, he said.

"The value of heroin in the international market is approximately Rs 2,700 crore," he said.