The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out raids at various locations in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai, including multiple establishments linked to businessman Tushar Goyal, after registering a money laundering case in the over 600kg drug bust in the national capital, the agency said in a statement.
This comes days after the October 1 recovery of 562kg of cocaine from south Delhi in what police said was the Capital’s biggest ever drug seizure. On Thursday, another 208kg of cocaine was recovered from a godown in west Delhi, and police said that the two seizures are believed to be linked to the same cartel headed by a Dubai-based businessmen, Virender Basoiya. Basoiya is currently in hiding, according to police. So far, police have arrested seven people in connection with October 1 seizure.
ED probe has revealed that Goyal was in touch with Basoiya and had even travelled to Dubai in June.
“ED, Delhi Zonal office has conducted search operations at various locations in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai on Friday in connection with the case of seizure of a consignment of Narcotic and Psychotropic substances viz. ‘Cocaine’ and ‘Hydroponic Marijuana’ weighing over 602 Kgs by Special Cell, Delhi Police,” the agency said in its statement.
Searches were carried out at the residential premises of Tushar Goyal in Vasant Enclave and Rajouri Garden and his associates Himanshu Kumar and Bharat Kumar in Prem Nagar and Nalasolpara in Mumbai. An officer aware of the matter said that ED has joined the probe to investigate a larger international syndicate.
“ED investigation revealed that the main accused Tushar Goyal alias Dikki had stored the above consignment of narcotics substances at his family owned godown in Mahipalpur. It is also revealed that Tushar Goyal had visited Dubai and Thailand in June this year and had met his other associates in order to plan the movement and distribution of narcotic drugs,” the agency said.
“It is also revealed that the accused Tushar Goyal was in connivance with a Dubai based mastermind who has previously also been linked with the supply of Cocaine and other drugs”, it added.
The probe agency said that during the raids at the units linked to Goyal, it recovered “key financial documents which have details of the financial activities of the accused as well as the details regarding the movable and immovable properties of the accused and their family members”.
Police have said that the 562kg narcotics seizure was worth ₹85,000 crore, while they said that Thursday’s seizure was valued at ₹2,000 crore. However, the street value of the drug in the United States ($120 per gram), according to UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
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