Mumbai: Probing the complaint filed by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai Zonal Unit, after the 2018 drug bust, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Panaji unit, has provisionally attached 15 properties, including 11 immovable and four movable, valued at Rs3.77 crore. The exact locations of the properties have not been disclosed.
Probe revealed that proceeds from narcotics sales were concealed as funds from unrelated parties and unknown sources, which were then invested in these properties, the ED said. The seizure is based on a complaint filed by the DRI before the court of the additional special judge for the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances cases.
The action – taken under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act – is part of an ongoing investigation into money laundering activities linked to a drug-manufacturing and smuggling racket operating across Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. So far, 11 people, including foreigners, have been arrested.
In 2018, the DRI had claimed to have dismantled a major drug-manufacturing hub, resulting in the seizure of contraband worth Rs35 crore and the arrest of 11 people, including Rahul Balkrishna Shedge and Anthony Karakutty Paul. Being chemical experts, the duo have been involved in the illegal manufacture and distribution of narcotics for years, the ED said. Another accused, Ishratkhan Parmar, a history-sheeter, played a key role in the distribution network, it added.
In the ensuing probe, the DRI found that impure Ketamine was being produced at a factory in Panvel, intended for smuggling to Goa and Gujarat before being further distributed to the UK and Canada. The agency had conducted raids on 14 residential and industrial locations, seizing 308kg of Ketamine, 2,000kg of raw materials capable of producing an additional 250kg of the drug and other narcotics, including hashish, cocaine and opium.
Further investigations revealed that one Jimmy Singh Sandhu, who owned the processing facility in Goa, reportedly prepared Ketamine with two British nationals, Jonathan Thorn and John Brecken, for smuggling into Canada and Punjab. Sandhu, who previously lived in Canada, was deported four years ago before being arrested by the DRI.
While Sandhu is said to be connected to international drug cartels, Thorn is a significant figure in the narcotics trade, as per the investigators. The other arrested accused are Akshinder Sodhi, Purohit Jagdishbhai, Mayur Sadrani, Nyugeh Kuong from Vietnam and Sarpreet Singh.
The proceeds of crime generated by Shedge, Paul and Parmar were disguised as funds from relatives and unknown sources and then invested in the attached properties, the ED said. The assets are part of a larger network involved in the drugs trafficking, with connections to various conspiring entities and individuals, it added.
