NIA files chargesheet against 13 for smuggling weapons, drugs from Pakistan

New Delhi [India] June 23 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed their chargesheet against 13 Pakistani nationals, in a 2022 case related to the smuggling of weapons and contraband drugs from Pakistan via Gujarat for funding terrorist activities in India.

Earlier, two accused (10 & 13) who were mentioned in the chargesheet were arrested in December 2022 with a huge consignment of drugs and arms, hidden in gas cylinders, from a Pakistani fishing boat, the NIA mentioned in a press release.

The seizure included 40 kilograms of heroin, six foreign-made pistols, six magazines and 120 nine-millimetre live cartridges, along with documents or Pakistani Identity Cards, mobile phones and Pakistani currency, the release mentions.

The chargesheet was filed on Friday in the NIA Special Court in Ahmedabad. It names all the ten arrested accused, identified as Kadarbaksh Umetan Baloch, Amanullah Musa Baloch, Ismail Sabzal Baloch, Allahbaksh Hatar Baloch, Goharbaksh Dilmurad Baloch, Ammal Phullan Baloch, Gul Mohammad Hatar Baloch, Andam Ali BoherBaloch, Abdulgani Jungiyan Baloch and Abdulhakim Dilmurad Baloch.

The remaining three Pakistani accused charge-sheeted by the NIA are absconding. They have been identified as Hazi Salim, Akbar and Karim Baksh.

As per NIA investigations, the consignment of sophisticated or imported weapons was being smuggled into India by the ten arrested accused, in connivance with Hazi Salim, Akbar and Karim Baksh, for delivery to an absconding person identified as Harun, who is based in India and is presently absconding.

The investigation reveals that Harun had hatched a conspiracy to illegally smuggle the consignment of weapons and contraband from Pakistan to India to provide funds to terrorist outfits and gangs operating in Punjab and North India.

The conspiracy was exposed after the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) in Gujarat received credible inputs that one Pakistan-based drug mafia named Hazi Salim was trying to smuggle the consignment of contraband drugs and illegal weapons through Okha shore from Pakistan, the NIA investigation revealed.

The ATS, the NIA said, was tipped off that the consignment would be reaching the Indian waters on 27th or 28th December 2022, near Okha Jetty (150 Nautical Miles west to Okha Jetty) through a fishing boat named "Al-Soheli". The Okha Coast Guard was subsequently informed by the ATS and, in a joint operation, the two agencies seized the boat.

The Ministry of Home Affairs transferred the case to NIA on March 6, considering the national security ramifications and the international linkages of the case. The NIA registered the case under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act, 1985, the Arms Act,1959 and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967.

This case marks the first one registered after the establishment of the Ahmedabad Branch Office of the NIA. The NIA is conducting further investigations into the case.