New Delhi: Two properties of an alleged prime accused in the seizure of 102 kg of heroin smuggled from Afghanistan via the Attari border in Punjab have been attached, National Investigation Agency (NIA) said on Wednesday.
The immovable properties of Razi Haider Zaidi (41), a resident of Okhla Vihar in the Jamia Nagar area of New Delhi, were attached under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the federal agency said.
The agency said both the properties were acquired by the accused from the proceeds of heroin sale.
The 102-kg drug consignment was seized by the customs department on April 24 and 26 last year after the narcotics reached Integrated Check Post at Attari on April 22 and were found concealed in a shipment of licorice roots (mulethi), the agency said.
Investigations revealed that Zaidi was the receiver of this consignment, it said.
It was supposed to be delivered to Zaidi who had handed over Rs 11 lakh in cash to another accused as advance payment of the said consignment, the probe agency said.
Further investigations revealed that Ahmed alias Qazi Abdul Wadood directed Zaidi to collect and deliver heroin consignments from various places in India from time to time, it said.
In February last year, Zaidi, along with accused Ahmed and Qani smuggled heroin concealed in licorice roots imported from Afghanistan.
About 50 kg of heroin was recovered from Zaidi by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and a case was registered against him and his associates.
The narcotics were later seized by NCB in a joint operation with Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the agency said.
It said investigations have also unearthed that in November 2021, on Ahmed’s instructions, Zaidi and two of his associates — Avtar Singh and Mohd Imran — went to Ahmedabad twice for collecting drugs, which they brought to Delhi and Zaidi supplied those to other associates.