Ahmedabad: Three days after the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) registered a case against three businessmen and arrested one of them for allegedly trafficking the anaesthetic drug etomidate to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, where the substance is treated as a controlled drug, the remaining two accused were also taken into custody.

The ATS had arrested Nikunj Haresh Gadhiya on March 7, while the other two businessmen, Chetan Kanu Vavadiya and Bhautik Damji Padmani, were arrested on Tuesday after being detained a day earlier, on March 8.

In an official statement, the ATS said that on March 7, an offence was registered at the ATS Police Station against persons involved in illegally exporting consignments of etomidate powder from Mumbai Airport to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and other countries. The accused allegedly prepared fake invoices, forged customs clearance documents, and mislabelled the drug as aloe vera powder and Ginopol-24 powder to evade detection.

The statement added that searches were conducted at the offices of the three accused, during which purchase bills of etomidate and stock registers were verified. The documents confirmed that the drug was being misdeclared and exported to foreign countries under false labels.

According to the ATS, Nikunj Gadhiya disclosed during questioning that he had arranged the shipment of 22 kg of etomidate to Malaysia through air cargo on February 28. The consignment consisted of six parcels with a total weight of 25.5 kg.

“These six parcels were examined in Mumbai by ATS Inspector V. N. Bharwad using a Raman spectrograph drug detector kit, which confirmed the presence of etomidate. The parcels had been falsely declared as samples of aloe vera powder before dispatch,” the statement said.

Police added that further investigation in the case is in progress. DeshGujarat