Source: Charul Shah, DNA   |   Last Updated 05:29(09/05/11)

http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/GUJ-AHD-ncb-case-helps-bust-international-drug-racket-2089179.html

Ahmedabad: A case registered by the local cell of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in 2009 has led to the busting of an international drug trafficking and hawala racket involving people from Malaysia, Mumbai and Gujarat.

Acting on a tip-off by the NCB against local drug manufacturers, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently filed a complaint in the local magistrate's court seeking action against five people under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act-2002. The five accused include a Canadian national, Xie Jing Feng alias Richard.

Interestingly, Richard had recently escaped from the custody of jail staff in Vadodara under mysterious circumstances. The other four accused are still lodged in the Vadodara jail in connection with the NCB case.

The metropolitan magistrate has already issued summons to Kirit Shah and Jagdish Vaidya, directors of Sakha Organics Ltd, Gunasekaran Pillai and Ravindra Karapaya, apart from Richard. This is the second notice issued by the court to the accused in the case. The NCB had busted the drug racket and registered the case on May 20, 2009. The accused in the case were booked under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

The ED has filed the complaint in the local magistrate's court on the basis of the investigation done by the local cell of the NCB.

The NCB's investigation revealed that the entire racket was controlled and run from Malaysia. It also showed that the drug manufacturing company involved in the racket was provided finance through hawala transactions.

Richard, the key accused in the case, was a member of an international drug trafficking gang. He had revealed that he had paid Rs4-4.5 crore to Kirit Shah and had persuaded him to produce methamphetamine. Richard delivered the manufactured drug to different places in Mumbai through one, Joe, who also hails from Malaysia.

Richard had further revealed that the gang operating in India took orders from one Steve of Malaysia and smuggled the manufactured drug out of the country.

Richard had admitted that he had made huge amounts of money by selling the methamphetamine. He used to sell the drug in the international market at Rs20 lakh per kg.

Further, Richard had two partners who financed him. His partners had paid him $6 million for getting the drugs manufactured by Shah. But Shah was paid in cash through hawala and the money had allegedly helped him pay off his debts. The whole hawala transaction was routed via Malaysia through one Mumbai-based hawala agent, Rafiq.

Richard's revelations led to the busting a major racket involving international drug mafia, in which most of the financial transactions took place through hawala.

On the basis of the NCB's investigation, the ED had filed a complaint before the metropolitan magistrate court last month. The court had issued notices to the accused lodged in Vadodara jail asking them to be present in court but due to the Swarnim Gujarat celebrations, the accused could not be called. The court has issued a second notice to the accused.