Mumbai: Interrogation of drug lord Aliasgar Shirazi has revealed a web of operations spanning the courier and pharmaceutical sectors that served his illegal trafficking of psychotropic medicines to the United States and the United Kingdom.
Shirazi’s statement is part of the prosecution complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Special PMLA Court. Shirazi has admitted to orchestrating, along with his wife Mehreen, a vast illegal drug trafficking network spanning several years, using their companies to smuggle the banned opioids.
According to Shirazi, he was initially involved in intra-city courier services in Mumbai but, seeing the profit potential in international courier operations, he expanded into this area. By 2009, he became involved in the supply of banned opioids through his connection with international drug mafia Kailash Rajput, introduced to him by one Vijay Rane. In 2012, they proposed shipping mephedrone to the UK. This venture brought him substantial profit for the first time, but he was later arrested along with Rajput and spent 28 months in jail..Post-release, Shirazi resumed his illegal activities, supplying banned medicines to the US and UK.
Shirazi disclosed that he began operations as early as 2017, using his companies M/s One Logistics, M/s KMB Services, and M/s International Express as fronts for transporting narcotics under the guise of legitimate shipments. Without possessing IATA (International Air Transport Association) courier licenses, he partnered with other firms such as M/s Trans Air Express Pvt Ltd, M/s Deepam Logistics/Couriers, M/s Apex Courier/International, and M/s Shree Umiya International. These companies shipped Zolpidem and other psychotropic medicines to the USA and UK.
When Shirazi was asked about the procurement of banned drugs, he revealed that Abdul Samad, a resident of Lucknow and a close associate of the Shirazi syndicate, started dealing with Aliasgar Shirazi directly. Abdul Samad had a list of USA clients who required banned opioid medicines such as Tramadol, Alprazolam, and Zolpidem. Abdul Samad used to get leads from call centers illegally set up to take orders, based in Lucknow, Delhi, Hyderabad, and other cities. After receiving orders from the clients in the USA, Abdul Samad sent 2-3 boxes (weighing around 50 kgs) of these banned opioid medicines from Lucknow to Mumbai through the Pushpak Express Train every day. He collected these boxes from CST railway station, Mumbai, and brought them to the office at Worldwide Express, situated at Suchita Niwas, Fort, Mumbai. Sealed boxes and bags were then delivered to Shirazi’s Andheri-based office, where his associates, Tushar Dange and Shahnawaz, hid the drug consignments in boxes containing sarees, garments, and food items.They informed Shirazi of the box/bag numbers, which his employees used to place the courier load. The consignments were sent to the airport an hour before the cutoff time according to the flight schedule.
According to the statements, Shirazi claimed that the consignments of illicit medicines were received and distributed in the USA by a contact identified as Harpreet Singh alias Vicky of M/s Eagle Express Inc.According to Shirazi’s statement, he used to communicate the identifying number of the bags to Harpreet Singh in USA and he used to collect the said consignment of prohibited opioid medicines and stock them. Thereafter, Abdul Samad, a close associate of Shirazi used to send Shirazi an email containing the run sheet on daily basis which contained the receiver’s name, receiver’s address, description of prohibited opioid medicine along with the quantity.Upon receiving the said mail, Shirazi used to forward the said mail to Vicky alias Harpreet Singh who used to send the opioid medicines as per order to receiver’s address using USPS (United State Postal Service). The payments for the USPS (United State Postal Service) charges were made using Shirazi’s credit card. Thereafter, Vicky alias Harpreet Singh used to send him the unique tracking numbers of USPS and the same was sent to Abdul Samad by sirazi for accountability.
Aliasgar Shirazi revealed collaborations with international partners, earning substantial profits. These partners included Harpreet Singh, alias Vicky, in the USA, who was later arrested by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the USA, and Atul Nischal, alias Jimmy, for shipments to the UK. The smuggled drugs included various opioids such as Diazepam, R-Lam, Clonazepam, Lorazepam, Tramadol, Alprazolam, and others, valued at significant amounts on the black market.According to Shirazi’s statement to authorities, the logistics were meticulously planned. He admitted to earning substantial profits, with revenues reportedly totaling crores of rupees annually. Payments for these transactions were made through a complex web of cash deposits, hawala channels, and bank transfers, implicating several individuals and entities in the laundering of illicit proceeds.
