Senior leader Pawan Khera during a press conference asks the Central government to answer why drug smuggling in Gujarat was on the rise while the recovery of 3000 kg illicit drugs was downplayed.
New Delhi: The Congress party is sending the BJP-led Union government scurrying for cover over the ‘open’ smuggling of illicit drugs in Gujarat.
At a press conference, senior Congress leader Pawan Khera lambasted the Centre for failing to curb the menace of drug smuggling in the state. “Why is the Prime Minister and Home Minister silent over the issue even as Gujarat is their home state? Why has the government been complacent over it?” he questioned.
The preferred route and ports for the drug smugglers are all in Gujarat, as per Khera.
‘Recovery of huge drug quantities a serious concern’
He added that the latest recovery of 3000 kg of drugs is a very serious issue, and has implications on not just the future generations but for the national security of the country as well.
Pawan Khera said that a mere two gram of drugs was debated in national news channels when it was connected to film industry in Mumbai, but the same drugs in huge quantities such as 3000 kg from private ports of Gujarat have not been even reported in the media, except for a few ‘courageous’ news outlets.
The Congress party alleged that the BJP government in Gujarat, as well as the Central government, appears to have fallen asleep at the wheel, while the youth of the country are losing their lives and future.
Is the BJP government able to explain, the party asked, why Gujarat has become such a hotbed for drug smuggling.
DRI seizes 3,000 kg of heroin at Gujarat’s Mundra port
The aggressive criticism from the Congress party comes after officials claimed on Tuesday that the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) recovered 2,988.21 kg heroin worth Rs 15,000 crore from two containers at the Mundra port in Gujarat’s Kutch region.
A couple, who owns an import company in Chennai, was also detained later in connection with the recovery.
DRI inspectors confiscated two containers and submitted samples for analysis a few days ago after receiving reliable information that the shipment included narcotics from Afghanistan. According to government authorities, a forensic investigation of the confiscated material revealed the presence of heroin. One kilogram of heroin costs about Rs 5 crore in the global market.
