AHMEDABAD: Using skillful evidence-gathering skills, Drug Control Bureau used Isro’s ADRIN satellite imagery for the first time to document stages of construction on property owned by an alleged drug lord over a period of four years in the village of Jodia, in Devbhoomi-Dwarka. This was done to try to establish that Isa Raothe main defendant in the Morbi drug trafficking case worth Rs 600 in November 2021, amassed wealth from the illegal trade.
After gathering evidence regarding his house, construction cost is Rs 57 lakh, NCB issued a warrant for the seizure of Rao’s assets on Tuesday. “Rao did not submit any documents to the local panchayat about replenishing his assets. So we decided to enlist the help of Isro’s Advanced Data Processing Research Institute to determine how he has developed his property in Jodia and built a three-story house,” said a senior NCB official.
An NCB official said the NCB had tracked changes made to the property between 2019 and November 2022 to determine how a giant wooden house had sprung up on the lot while he is accused of actively operating his illegal business, an NCB official said. NCB also used Google Earth to verify images of Rao’s property, he said.
Rao went into hiding after Gujarat ATS seized 120kg of heroin worth Rs600 crore from a house under construction in Morbi on 15 November 2021. The shipment was smuggled into India via the Gujarat coast. Three people were arrested. Further investigation resulted in the seizure of another 155.3kg of heroin, worth Rs 776.5 crore, and the arrest of 14 people, including a Nigerian citizen. In that case, Rao was also implicated.
The shipments of heroin were purchased from the Pakistani drug mafia and deliveries were made in the middle of the sea last October. Officials said the shipment was intended to be shipped to Punjab. According to ATS officials, after transporting the drug shipment to India, Rao fled India in November 2021. He was sheltered in Karachi by the Dawood Ibrahim gang. His last location has been traced to Clifton Road in Karachi. The case was handed over to the NCB in December.
After gathering evidence regarding his house, construction cost is Rs 57 lakh, NCB issued a warrant for the seizure of Rao’s assets on Tuesday. “Rao did not submit any documents to the local panchayat about replenishing his assets. So we decided to enlist the help of Isro’s Advanced Data Processing Research Institute to determine how he has developed his property in Jodia and built a three-story house,” said a senior NCB official.
An NCB official said the NCB had tracked changes made to the property between 2019 and November 2022 to determine how a giant wooden house had sprung up on the lot while he is accused of actively operating his illegal business, an NCB official said. NCB also used Google Earth to verify images of Rao’s property, he said.
Rao went into hiding after Gujarat ATS seized 120kg of heroin worth Rs600 crore from a house under construction in Morbi on 15 November 2021. The shipment was smuggled into India via the Gujarat coast. Three people were arrested. Further investigation resulted in the seizure of another 155.3kg of heroin, worth Rs 776.5 crore, and the arrest of 14 people, including a Nigerian citizen. In that case, Rao was also implicated.
The shipments of heroin were purchased from the Pakistani drug mafia and deliveries were made in the middle of the sea last October. Officials said the shipment was intended to be shipped to Punjab. According to ATS officials, after transporting the drug shipment to India, Rao fled India in November 2021. He was sheltered in Karachi by the Dawood Ibrahim gang. His last location has been traced to Clifton Road in Karachi. The case was handed over to the NCB in December.
