Bhuj: A special NDPS court in Bhuj on Wednesday sentenced 19 people, including 18 Pakistani nationals and one Afghan citizen, to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment in three heroin smuggling cases involving narcotics worth an estimated Rs 575 crore.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh on each of the convicted persons after finding them guilty under Section 8(c) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

In its order, the court observed that the accused were part of a well-planned conspiracy to push Indian youth towards drug addiction and weaken the country’s social fabric by supplying large quantities of narcotics. It further noted that drug trafficking is not merely an individual crime but a threat to national security as it directly impacts the country’s internal security.

The verdict was delivered in three cases registered by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), which involved heroin being smuggled from Pakistan through the Arabian Sea and brought ashore near Jakhau between 2020 and 2022. DeshGujarat