The goods seized by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a shipping container at the Visakhapatnam Port have tested positive for a variety of narcotic drugs.
Based on an Interpol alert, a special CBI team from the Economic Offences Department had come to Visakhapatnam as part of ‘Operation Garuda’, and with the help of its local branch, and the Customs and port authorities, detained a container in a ship that was coming from Santos Port in Brazil.
As per a CBI release, the goods were classified as ‘Inactive Dried Yeast’. They were being imported by the Sandhya Aqua Export Limited, a company based in Visakhapatnam. The cargo was packed in 1,000 bags of 25 kg each, placed in 20 pallets.
The CBI team had randomly picked 20 bags from each of the pallets. As per the CBI release, all of them tested positive. The CBI used the NCB drug detection kit for testing the goods. The release stated the goods tested positive for cocaine, methaqualone, opium, morphine, codeine, heroin, amphetamines and mescaline.
The CBI team seized the container on March 19 and the raid continued till March 20.
As per the Customs officials, the CBI handed over the seized containers to them for safe keeping. The samples were also sent to the sampling laboratory of the Customs for further confirmation.
The CBI report also mentioned that “during the process of examination, various officers of the Andhra Pradesh Government and the port employees gathered at the site, causing delay in the CBI proceedings.”
CP denies charge
Meanwhile, Visakhapatnam Commissioner of Police A. Ravi Shankar on March 22 (Friday) denied the charge in the report that the government officials caused delay in the CBI proceedings.
Addressing the media here, Mr. Ravi Shankar said, “The statements are not correct. They may be technical terms, which the CBI uses to cover-up the delay.” The Visakhapatnam police did not interfere in the case at all, he made it clear.
Mr. Ravi Shankar said the place where the container had been seized was a private terminal, and “does not come under their limit.”
On March 16, it was the Customs and CBI officials who had sought the help of the local police as they did not have a Dog Squad, he said.
“We sent a Dog Squad to the port. I personally visited the spot Later, the Customs and CBI officials informed us that they do not need the Dog Squad any more, after which the local police left the scene,” Mr. Ravi Shankar said.
“The city police are actively involved in curbing ganja and narcotic drugs menace. The police have been acting tough on those peddling synthetic drugs for the past few years. The smugglers have been procuring it from the interior areas of Odisha and using Vizag as a transit point,” Mr. Ravi Shankar said.
“By conducting surprise checks and arresting a number of offenders, the city police are leaving no stone unturned to make Vizag a peaceful city,” he said.
Meanwhile, a CBI release said that its team from Visakhapatnam on March 22 raided the Sandhya Aqua Export Limited unit at Moolapeta in U. Kothapalli mandal of Kakinada district in connection with the case.
