According to a Gujarat ATS officer, during interrogation, Supreet allegedly revealed the contraband was meant for Egypt.
As part of its probe into a merchant vessel carrying around 1,500 kg of heroin valued at around Rs 3,500 crore, which was intercepted off the coast of Gujarat near Porbandar by the Indian Coast Guard on Saturday and brought to Porbandar on Sunday, the Gujarat Anti Terrorism Squad has picked up the younger brother of Supreet Tiwari, who was the captain of the vessel, for questioning from Kolkata.
Two men from Mumbai, identified only as Vishal and Irfan, who are suspected to have provided a fake Seaman Service Book (SSB) and Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC) to members of the crew, and allegedly peddled drugs in metropolitan cities, have also been held.
The operation by the Coast Guard is being touted as the single largest drug haul till date. According to sources, the Panama-registered vessel, 'MV Hennry', was coming from Iran and headed to Alang ship breaking yard in Bhavnagar, where the consignment, which was loaded from near Pakistan, was to be offloaded. Eight persons, all Indians, who were on the vessel, had been taken into custody.
According to a Gujarat ATS officer, during interrogation, Supreet allegedly revealed the contraband was meant for Egypt. However, he allegedly wanted to shore up in Alang to steal the drugs and sell it, before the vessel was intercepted.
Officers from the Gujarat ATS reached Supreet's residence on Girish Chandra Bose Road in South Kolkata on Sunday and whisked away his younger brother Sujit, a fresh BTech passout, for questioning.
"They searched the house thoroughly but could not find anything. They only took Sujit's laptop and his phone," said his father Acchbarnath Tiwari (59), an employee of West Bengal Transport Corporation.
The two brothers hail from a lower middle class family. Other than their father Acchbarnath, others in the family include their mother Binda Tiwari, 49, and Supreet's wife, who has delivered a child four days ago and is still at the hospital.
"It had come to me like a bolt from the blue. I have known the family for over 30 years now. These boys have grown up in front of my eyes. They are not capable of anything such," a neighbour Raghuvir Prasad Singh said. He also said that he had been called at the Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police headquarters before Sujit was taken away by Gujarat Police. "The officer of Gujarat Police had assured me that Sujit would be released in at most four days after interrogation," he said.
A senior official of Kolkata Police's Special Task Force (STF) who helped Gujarat Police in the operation in Kolkata told DNA, "Supreet was giving instructions to his brother Sujit to collect money. So Gujarat ATS requested us to examine him. After arrival of Gujarat ATS we handed over him. They have taken him for further interrogation."
Gujarat ATS officer NL Desai told DNA that Sujit was questioned on Monday and would be quizzed on Tuesday as well. "He has confessed that he was in touch with his brother who had told him that some industrial drugs were being transported and if the deal is done he would get Rs 50 crore which he would send to Sujit and he would have to collect it from here," Desai said.
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