The Navi Mumbai police's crime branch has seized heroin valued at Rs 362.59 crore in the international market from an unclaimed shipping container, an official said on Friday.
The container, which had arrived at the Nhava Sheva port from Dubai, was lying at a yard in Panvel town of adjoining Raigad district off the old Mumbai-Pune Highway, the official said.
Initially, it was suspected that the confiscated substance was morphine, but later it turned out to be heroin, he clarified.
At least 168 packets stuffed with the drug and weighing 72.518 kg were found concealed in the door of the container, the official said.
Acting on specific intelligence, the crime branch on Thursday conducted a search operation at the premises of a private logistics company at Ajvali village in Panvel, where the container was lying unclaimed, he said.
Inputs about the possible movement of a drugs consignment were also received from the Punjab police, the official said.
The consignment had landed at the Nhava Sheva port from Dubai and it was bound for Punjab via Mumbai, he said.
An inspection of the container led to the recovery of marble and floor tiles, the official said.
Marble and floor tiles were for a consignee in Delhi, while the contraband was suspected to be headed for Punjab, he said.
Some deformity was observed in the metal door frame of the container, which led to suspicion that contraband may be hidden in the cavity, said Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner Bipin Kumar Singh at a media briefing.
The metal door frame and other frames were cut open with equipment and the drug was recovered, he said.
An examination of the contents of the packets by a Forensic Science Lab team and NDPS detection kit of the Anti Narcotics Cell led to the recovery of heroin weighing 72.518 kg and valued at Rs 362.59 crore in the international market, Singh said.
The heroin was seized and an FIR registered at the Panvel Taluka police station under relevant sections of the NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act) against the exporter, consignee, shipper and other unknown persons, who facilitated the export and import of the banned substance, the police said.
This was one of the major drug hauls in Navi Mumbai in recent times and comes after multiple seizures of contraband at Gujarat's Mundra port.
