The plot uncovered after the probe into 'heroin ship' Hennry which yielded a record-breaking 1,446 kg of drugs reads nothing less than a thriller with a storyline stretching across borders, including Pakistan, Iran and Abu Dhabi.
The questioning of the 11 accused, including captain of the ship, has revealed that the drug was being sold by hawala channels based in Chhapra, Sealdah and Kolkata, an official told the Times of India.
The captain, 26-year-old Suprit Tiwari, has told the investigators that he been working for Saiyed Ali Manori, the Iranian owner of the vessel MV Hennry. It was earlier called Prince 2. Tiwari took command of the ship in May at Iran's Bandar Abbas port.
Tiwari had to pick up the heroin stock from Pakistan's Gwadar port and head to Egypt. However, unhappy with the insubstantial Rs 50 crore offered, he decided to outsmart Manori and eventually changed his route. After small boats loaded the ship with heroin, about 70 nautical miles away from the port, Tiwari left for India.
Initial reports by National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) referred to the vessel as Prince 2 and reported that it moved quickly towards Bhavnagar and was preparing to drop off a consignment off the Jamnagar coast.
The three local links involved – Mumbai's Vishal Kumar and his deputy Vijay Pandian and Shaikh Irfan – have been arrested. Shaikh used to deal in shipbreaking at Alang shipyard in Bhavnagar.
The vessel was disposed at Alang. Reports say that the consignment had to be sold for Rs 500 crore, of which 70 percent (Rs 350 crores) were to go to Manori while Tiwari and two others – Devender and Vishal would have received 10 percent each (Rs 50 crore).
The vessel -- Prince 2 -- started from Iran and first docked at Abu Dhabi where Tiwari met Devender, Khalid Mohammed from Pakistan and Mustafa from Iran. The vessel's name was then changed to MV Hennry and a cavity was created in its diesel tanks to stash heroin.
Vishal, an oilman with Sealantic Company of the UAE, and a narcotics smuggler who had spent two years in Greek prison, was in touch with Tiwari.
The vessel was intercepted based on inputs given by Intelligence Bureau's multi-agency centre in real-time with Coast Guard, three state police and three foreign counterparts, said the Times of India report. Further investigations are underway to identify crew members, the owner of the ship and the intended customers for the stock.
The cost and risk of using sea routes becoming an attractive option for smugglers have now raised concerns for intelligence agencies. The massive haul of Rs 100 crore-Rs 200 crore points at a wholesale price of Rs 7 lakh-Rs 13 lakh per kg by sea route is way higher than the Rs 5 lakh-Rs 10 lakh that the land border route gets.
