"Cruise ship raid was to deviate attention from Gujarat port drug haul": Congress
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Mumbai: The raid conducted on a cruise ship by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and following actions against certain people was an attempt to deviate attention from the "real issue" of the drug seizure at Mundra port in Gujarat, the Congress alleged on Sunday. As per a PTI report, the party demanded a probe under Supreme Court's supervision on the Mundra port drugs haul.
On Sunday, the NCB had detained eight people, including Bollywood star Shahrukh Khan's son Aryan Khan, after the agency raided a cruise ship in Mumbai and recovered drugs from the detained.
Congress' spokesperson Shama Mohamed told reporters that the NCB came out at random saying it has caught drugs from a cruise ship. She asked where the drugs came from. She said that the agency is deflecting attention from the real issue- the Mundra port drug haul- and alleged that it was smuggled from Afghanistan.
The NCB is booking people here and there for media to dwell on, she said. She asked reporters to write about the Mundra haul and why the case was not investigated and ignored. She claimed that had the drugs not come from the port, there would not have been a party on the ship.
The drugs smuggling will fund terrorist organisations and separatist groups and could cause political instability in the country, she said.
Shama questioned PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah's silence on the drug haul in Mundra. She said that Gujarat was becoming a drug smuggling hotspot and privatisation of ports fuels such illegal activities.
Maharashtra Congress also expressed doubts on similar lines but welcomed the raid on the cruise ship. The state Congress spokesperson, Atul Londhe, said that he wanted to know what action was being taken in the Mundra port drug seizure. He also asked how the agencies are working on stopping drug trafficking through international borders.
However, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis responded that he had learned about the NCB raid on the cruise ship. He will comment on it after getting further information regarding the raid, he added.
It was last month that the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had seized 2,988.21 kg of heroin, worth around Rs 21,000 crores in the global market, from two containers at the Mundra port. in Gujarat.