Guj ATS seizes methamphetamine from Delhi house

The Gujarat Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) Monday seized 5 kg methamphetamine from a house in Pahadganj in New Delhi.

The seizure is part of a larger consignment which was dispatched from Pakistan and received off the Gujarat coast in Kutch.

The seized drug, also known as Ice, is estimated to cost Rs 24 crore in the international markets, it said.

The seizure was made on the basis of information provided by one of the two accused arrested two days ago in connection with the seizure of 100 kg heroin from a boat off Porbandar coast in which nine Iranian nationals were arrested, the ATS said in a release.

The ATS said Niyamat Khan Ahmedzai, an Afghan national who was arrested earlier, told the sleuths that he had handed over 10 kg Ice to another accused from Kerala, Mohammed Abdul Salaam Kunni, in Delhi.

The ATS team took Kunni to Delhi who led the officials to the house, it said.

Kunni revealed that rest of the consignment was dispatched to Saudi Arabia using willing passengers in various flights as couriers, the ATS said.

Ice, also referred to as shabu, crystal, crystal meth or d-meth, is the purest and the most potent form of methamphetamine.

It comes as powder or crystals that are usually snorted, injected or smoked, the release said.

Haji Nadar, an Afghan national whose name came up during interrogation, had instructed Ahmedzai over phone that he will have to receive the consignment of Ice coming from a boat from Pakistan and landing in Kutch coast.

He was further instructed to hand over the consignment to Kunni in Delhi, the ATS said.

"The accused further revealed that this consignment is part of a larger consignment landed at Kutch coast," it said.

In a joint operation on March 27, the ATS, the Indian Coast Guard and the Marine Task Force had seized 100 kg heroin, estimated to cost Rs 500 crore in the international markets, and arrested nine Iranian nationals.