Gujarat ATS gets custody of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi for 14 days

AHMEDABAD: A magistrate's court in Nalia, Kutch, on Tuesday granted Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) a 14-day custody of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi in connection with a case of cross-border smuggling of drugs.
A Delhi court had on Monday granted the transit remand of Bishnoi, who was lodged in Tihar jail, to the Gujarat ATS. After getting his custody, the ATS team reached Kutch on Tuesday and produced Bishnoi before the magistrate.
Judicial magistrate A M Shukla, sent Bishnoi to 14-day police custody as requested by the ATS to probe his possible role in the smuggling of heroin through the sea route.
The ATS wants to question the gangster about his possible links in connection with the seizure of 40kg of heroin worth more than Rs 200 crore from a Pakistani fishing boat in the Arabian Sea off Gujarat coast in September last year. On September 14, 2022, the Gujarat ATS, in a joint operation with the Indian Coast Guard, intercepted a Pakistani fishing boat mid-sea near Jakhau harbour in Kutch, and seized 40kg of heroin worth more than Rs 200 crore.
Six Pakistani nationals on board the boat, named 'Al Tayyasa', were also arrested at that time. It was sent for Bishnoi by Pakistan-based handlers under the supervision of a woman from Nigeria named Bongani Thandile.
Bishnoi's two aides - Sartaj Malik and his brother-in-law Mehraj Rehmani - had fixed the drug landing from Kapurthala jail in Punjab around 15 days before the heroin was seized near Jakhau. Malik and Mohammad Shafi alias Jaggi Singh were also arrested from a hotel near RTO Circle in the city on September 6, 2022. Gujarat ATS officers said that as some of the accused are wanted in the case, Bishnoi needs to be questioned regarding their whereabouts and the heroin seizure
In the 2021 Morbi drug seizure case, Gujarat police had also established the role of Bharat Bhushan alias Bhola Shooter, a member of the Bishnoi gang, who was allegedly running the drug network from a Punjab jail. He died mysteriously at Ferozepur jail in Punjab on March 3, 2022.