On Monday, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) got the custody of jailed notorious gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in connection with a case related to the trafficking of drugs with links to Pakistan. According to news agency ANI, Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Monday granted the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad transit remand of Bishnoi, who is currently lodged in Tihar jail.
Delhi's Patiala House Court grants transit custody of Lawrence Bishnoi to Gujarat ATS in a cross-border smuggling case.
— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2023
(file photo) pic.twitter.com/P24MFlPHtH
Reportedly, Gujarat ATS officials want to interrogate the gangster about his suspected involvement in the seizure of 40 kilogrammes of heroin worth more than Rs 200 crore from a Pakistani fishing boat in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Gujarat last September. Six Pakistani nationals present on the trawler were also arrested, an ATS official said.
“We have got Bishnoi’s custody and our teams are already on the way to Gujarat. He will be produced in a court in the Kutch district by Tuesday evening,” a senior ATS official was quoted as saying.
Contraband worth Rs 200 crores seized off the Gujarat coasts
On September 14, a joint operation by the Indian Coast Guard and Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad caught a Pakistani fish trawler carrying 40 kgs of drugs worth Rs 200 crores off the Gujarat coast. The drugs were reportedly meant to be transported to Punjab after being offloaded on the Gujarat coast. Acting on a specific tip-off, the joint team of ATS and Coast Guard intercepted the boat that left Pakistan and caught six Pakistani nationals with 40 kg of heroin.
It was reported that the contraband caught was linked to jails in Amritsar, Ferozepur, and Faridkot in Punjab. The drugs seized were reportedly ordered by a Nigerian national named Chief lodged in Amritsar Jail and Meraj Rahmani imprisoned in Kapurthala Jail.
NIA files chargesheet against Lawrence Bishnoi
Meanwhile, last month, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) also filed a chargesheet against notorious gangsters Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar and 12 others having links with the proscribed Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and several other pro-Khalistani terrorist outfits, in the second of the three terror-gangster nexus cases.
All the 14 accused have been charged with criminal conspiracy to unleash a wave of terror and carry out targeted killings of well-known social and religious leaders, movie stars, singers and businessmen, said the NIA. Besides having links with conspirators in Pakistan, the accused were also in contact with pro-Khalistani elements based in Canada, Nepal and other countries, NIA investigations have revealed.
