Heroin smuggling case: Key accused held from Nepal border

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The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday nabbed a man who is believed to have played a key role in smuggling a large cache of heroin into the state from Pakistan through the sea route a few months back.

The accused, Arshad Sotta, was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border, said an ATS release here. Sotta was a key person in smuggling the contraband into Gujarat from Pakistan through a boat, it said. Sotta, a native of Mandvi in Kutch district, is the fourth accused to be arrested by the ATS in connection with a racket involved in selling heroin smuggled from Pakistan using the sea route.

In August, the ATS had arrested two men - Aziz Abdul Bhagad and Rafiq Adam Sumra - from different parts of Gujarat and seized 5kg of heroin worth Rs 14.84 crore in the international market. While Sumra was held from Mandvi town in Kutch, Bhagad was nabbed from Salaya, a coastal town in Gir Somnath district. During the probe, it was revealed Bhagad had brought around 300kg of heroin from Pakistan via the sea route and given a large portion of it to Sumra.

Last month, the ATS nabbed one Nazir Ahmed Thakar from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. It was alleged that Thakar, a native of Anantnag in Kashmir, allegedly took delivery of a large amount of heroin from Sumra on the instruction of a Punjab-based drug dealer, identified as Simranjeet, who is still at large. Sotta's alleged involvement in the drug smuggling racket came to light during the questioning of Sumra, Bhagad and Thakar, said the ATS.

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