In the case of 3,000 kg of heroin being seized by authorities in September 2021, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested two people from Delhi.
The value of the heroin was estimated to be around Rs 21,000 crore in the international market.
The consignment was dispatched from Afghanistan to India via the Bandar-e Abbas port in Iran.
Considering the gravity of the case and its international linkages, the probe was transferred to the NIA.
NIA investigations revealed an organised conspiracy to smuggle illegal consignments of heroin through international trade routes to India from Afghanistan.
The main accused, Hassan Dad and Hussain Dad, Afghan nationals, conspired with another accused, Javad, an Iranian national, who was instrumental in dispatching the drug-loaded consignments sent from Afghanistan to various seaports in India.
Hussain and Hassan have been found to be linked with proscribed terrorist organisations Hizbul Mujahideen and Tehrik ul Mujahideen.
Based on investigations, 10 accused were arrested, including four Indians and six Afghan nationals.
While investigating further and backward linkages of the crime, a well-oiled network of operatives involved in the import, facilitation, and transport of drug-laden consignments has been uncovered.
It was revealed that consignments were being imported through multiple fake/shell import proprietorship firms floated in India through multiple accused.
One key player, Harpreet Singh Talwar (alias Kabir Talwar), was found to be the importer of multiple consignments of semi-processed talc stone, in which heroin was concealed.
He used shell import firms registered in the name of one of his employees to bring in such consignments on multiple occasions.
All the consignments were imported, received, and dispatched to a Delhi-based godown belonging to Afghan nationals, where heroin was being separated, processed, and further transported for supply in the market.
Kabir Talwar, a resident of East Patel Nagar, Delhi, owns and runs several bars and nightclubs in Delhi, including White Club at Samrat Hotel (earlier known as Playboy Club), Jazbaa Lounge, Rajouri Garden, and many other import-export firms through which he is suspected to be channelising funds generated from the drug trade.
The other accused arrested on Thursday has been identified as Prince Sharma, a close associate, and employee of Kabir Talwar, in whose name Talwar had floated an import firm for bringing in drug-laden consignments of semi-processed talc stone.
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