Ahmedabad, Aug 25 (IANS) The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Tuesday arrested a Haryana resident wanted by the Himachal Pradesh Police in connection with a heroin case after tracing him to a hotel in Ahmedabad, where he had allegedly been staying while preparing to travel to Abu Dhabi.
Azadsingh Valmiki, a resident of Lakhnoura village in Ambala district of Haryana, was arrested from Hotel Govindam in Ahmedabad’s Madhupura area on the evening of August 24.
He is wanted in connection with an FIR registered at Shimla West Police Station in Himachal Pradesh under Section 21 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
According to the ATS, Police Inspector J.N. Chavda received information that Valmiki, who was wanted in the case, was staying in Madhupura.
The information was shared with senior officers and, on the instructions of Superintendent of Police (SP) K. Siddharth, a team comprising Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Harsh Upadhyay and other ATS personnel was formed to verify the information and conduct further investigation.
The team subsequently searched Hotel Govindam and found Valmiki there. He was brought to the ATS office in Ahmedabad for questioning.
During preliminary interrogation, Valmiki allegedly told investigators that he had been working as a sales boy at Chandigarh Airport, where he came into contact with a taxi driver, Shubh Karman.
About a month earlier, Karman allegedly told him that he had around one kg of heroin and offered him a commission to find a customer.
Valmiki then allegedly approached his cousin, Vijay Kumar Darshanlal, a resident of Lakhnoura in Narayangarh of Haryana, who agreed to procure the heroin.
According to the ATS, Vijay Kumar travelled to Shimla carrying around one kg of heroin and was arrested by Shimla West Police on August 3 with 1.120 kg of the drug. After learning of his cousin’s arrest, Valmiki allegedly went absconding.
The ATS said he later travelled by train to Ahmedabad via Delhi while preparing to leave for Abu Dhabi and stayed at the Madhupura hotel.
The Gujarat ATS has informed Shimla West Police about Valmiki’s arrest. Further legal proceedings are being undertaken to hand him over to the Himachal Pradesh Police for necessary action in the case.
The arrest is part of the Gujarat ATS’s efforts to trace accused persons linked to inter-state narcotics cases.
–IANS
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