India’s largest port operator Adani Port has stated that it would not handle cargo from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran from next month after the authorities have ceased drugs of almost three tonnes.
On Monday, Adani Ports of the Adani Group conglomerate said that its “trade advisory” will apply to all the terminals it operates including third-party terminals from November 15.
The officials did not mention any reason but the decision was followed by the earlier seizure of almost three tonnes of heroin from two containers at the Mundra port of India’s western coast in Gujarat state last month.
The consignment, which authorities claimed originated from Afghanistan, was worth an estimated $2.65bn, one of the biggest stocks ever seized in the country.
Indian authorities had also seized smuggled heroin worth over $20m and arrested six Iranian men in a deep-sea drug bust off the Gujarat coast in September.
In response to the seizures, Adani Ports had said it did not have the authority to examine the millions of tonnes of cargo that pass through its terminals.
Mundra Port is a major economic and logistics gateway in India which handles 130 million tonnes of cargo last year and also has the country’s largest coal import terminal.
Despite huge efforts from the United States to combat the drugs trade, most of the world’s illegal drugs come from Afghanistan.
India considers Russia, Iran, Pakistan, and China are major smuggling routes and huge markets for Afghan drugs.
