Gujarat ATS Gets Lawrence Bishnoi's Custody In Cross-Border Drug Smuggling Case

The Gujarat ATS got the custody of Lawrence Bishnoi in connection with a case of cross-border smuggling of drugs. This comes after a Delhi court granted the transit remand of Bishnoi.

The Gujarat ATS got the custody of Lawrence Bishnoi in connection with a case of cross-border smuggling of drugs. This comes after a Delhi court granted the transit remand of Bishnoi.

Source : File Photo: ABP Live

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) got the custody of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in connection with a case of cross-border smuggling of drugs, news agency PTI reported citing a police official. This comes after a Delhi court on Monday granted the transit remand of Bishnoi, who is lodged in Tihar jail, to the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad.

The ATS wants to question the gangster in a case pertaining to his possible links in connection with the seizure 40 kg of heroin worth more than Rs 200 crore from a Pakistani fishing boat in the Arabian Sea off the Gujarat coast in September last year. "We have got Bishnoi's custody and our teams are already on the way to Gujarat. He will be produced in a court in Kutch district by Tuesday evening," a senior ATS official said, as quoted by PTI.

On September 14 last year, the Gujarat ATS in a joint operation with the Indian Coast Guard intercepted a Pakistani fishing boat mid-sea near Jakhau harbour in Kutch district and seized 40 kg of heroin worth more than Rs 200 crore, as reported by PTI. Six Pakistani nationals on board the boat, named 'Al Tayyasa', were also arrested at that time.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the heroin was meant to be transported to northern states like Delhi and Punjab by road with the help of two Delhi residents - Sartaj Malik and Jaggi Singh alias Virpal Singh - who were supposed to receive the contraband, as reported by PTI. They were arrested later on.

The Gujarat police had also said the drugs were being smuggled as part of a racket run by two traffickers, including a Nigerian national, currently lodged in jails in Punjab.

According to PTI, the questioning of the eight accused had revealed that drug traffickers Meeraz Rehmani and Ani Chief Obinna alias Chief (who is a Nigerian) were running the racket while sitting in jail. Rehmani was lodged at a jail in Kapurthala and Obinna in Amritsar jail. It is alleged that both of them were working at the behest of Bishnoi. They were running the racket using WhatsApp and VOIP (Internet phone) calls, police informed earlier. In the Morbi drug seizure case of 2021, Gujarat police had also found the role of Bharat Bhushan alias Bhola Shooter, a member of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang who was allegedly running the drug network from a Punjab jail. Bhushan died in jail recently.