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Underground Route to Barmer used for Smuggling Heroin from Pak
Jodhpur: Police have busted a drug racket involving smuggling of heroin from Pakistan to India through a tunnel dug below the international border. The tunnel starts from a village in Pakistan and passes under the fence on the border to a village in Barmer district.

This was revealed by I–G, Jodhpur range, Rajiv Dasot, here. He made the disclosure in connection with the seizure of about 20 kg of heroin on December 9 from three Tanzanian nationals in the city. The heroin, said Dasot come from Pakistan with the carriers managing to dodge the Border Security Force (BSF).

He said one Salim, an accomplice of the infamous Pakistani drug smuggler Hazi Ali, had started from Bala village in Pakistan and crossed the border by digging a tunnel under the fence in an area falling under the jurisdiction of 78th battalion of the BSF in the night. He had handed over the consignment to one Mohd Iliyas at the border village of Makhhan Ka Paar in Barmer.

Hazi Ali is said to have direct links with international smuggler Abu Baquar to whom the heroin had to be delivered. Iliyas took the heroin in a jeep and assigned the task of handing it over to Haneef and Ikruddin, who in turn handed it over the Tanzanian nationals in Jodhpur. However, police managed to arrest the owner of the jeep, Sardul Singh, along with Iliyas, Haneef and Ikruddin.

According to Dasot, Haneef and Ikruddin had left for Jodhpur in a bus and after reaching Jodhpur, they buried the heroin in a mustard field in Basni area. Then they contacted the Tanzanians for the delivery.

Police have also arrested Jamal Khan of Jaisalmer, who had coordinated the entire operation to ensure the delivery to the Tanzanians. The entire functioning of the smugglers remained centred around the villages of Bala in Pakistan and Tamlor on Indian side. Both these villages are about three kilometre from the border.

The Jodhpur police caught the Tanzanians when they were about to leave for New Delhi for handing over the consignment to the next link, who was supposed to deliver it to Abu Baquar in South Africa. Haneef and Ikruddin, who had handed over the heroin to the Tanzanians, have been working in the handicraft industry of Jodhpur and are familiar with the area, which is why they chose the city for the delivery.

All the five were produced in the court on Saturday and were remanded for four days.

Sources said that agencies like Narcotics Control Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation and Research and Analysis Wing have also taken up the issue and have already interrogated the Tanzanians.


Source: http://epaper.timesofindia.com