Indian politicians involved in multi-billion-dollar narco-trade

While the entire world is aware of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family’s direct involvement in illicit trade of drugs; Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah making billions of dollars from transnational drug trafficking, according to a recent report, a prominent leader of India’s oldest political party – Indian National Congress (INC) has been named as the main culprit behind a cocaine and hydroponic marijuana consignments worth Indian rupees 56 billion, which is equivalent to US$900 million.

According to media report, Tushar Goyal alias Dikki Goyal (some reports also spelled his name as Goel) was arrested by law enforcement agencies following the recovery of more than 500 kilograms of cocaine and 40 kilograms of hydroponic marijuana. Following this arrest, INC denied any links with Goyal and through a lengthy tweet in Hindi on ‘X’, the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) took a dig at the BJP, asking it to “Stop misleading the country on the basis of lies and deception”.

In the tweet, IYC stated:

Dear Adani Mudra Port Chowkidars,

Stop misleading the country on the basis of lies and deception, because this is a crime under the law and @IYCLegalCell will soon give a legal answer to it.

Some facts you hid:

1. Criminal Tushar Goyal was removed from the Delhi Pradesh Youth Congress RTI department in October 2022 itself due to anti-party activities.

2. After 17 October 2022, the said Tushar Goyal has never been associated with the Youth Congress organization in any capacity.

3. In the information released in the media quoting Delhi Police, the said Tushar Goyal himself has admitted that he was never associated with the Youth Congress after 2021-22, which makes it clear that BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi and BJP IT CELL, through a press conference, while hiding the facts, described him as a current office bearer of the Youth Congress, which is clearly a frustrated attempt to tarnish the image of the Indian Youth Congress organization, against which we are bound to take legal action.

4. While showing the so called pictures of the said criminal with our leaders, you people deliberately hid the pictures of Tushar Goyal with BJP leaders which makes it clear that this entire story was fabricated in view of Haryana elections.

5. And yes, Delhi Police is under your government, give the harshest punishment to the criminal and do not run this fake campaign based on selective and incorrect facts. Because our organization never defends criminals like rapist Brij Bhushan like you people.

In the same tweet, IYC published image of the letter of appointment of Tushar Goyal dated March 24, 2022. It also published the image of a press release dated October 17, 2022 removing Goyal from the post.

Suspiciously, IYC did not mention the reason behind appointing Tushar Goyal on March 24, 2022 and removing him from the post on October 17, 2022 – just within seven months.

In a sharp rebuttal, the Indian National Congress also urged Delhi Police to ensure that Goyal and his associates face the harshest legal consequences. “We never defend criminals like rapist Brij Bhushan, as you do”, said congress, taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in a tweet stated, “The direct connection of the official office bearers of Congress with Tushar Goyal, the Chief of the RTI Cell of the ‘Indian Youth Congress’, who is accused of such a big drug scandal that directly pushes the youth of the country into drug addiction, shows that if they get even a little power, into what abyss they will push the country…”

According to Delhi Police, the massive narco-racket was run by Tushad Goyal, a resident of Vasant Vihar – a posh residential area in New Delhi. Goyal’s father runs a large publication business.

Tushar Goyal, who used the alias “Dikki Goyal” on social media, posted photos with several prominent INC leaders, including Lok Sabha MP Deepender Singh Hooda and Haryana unit chief Uday Bhan. Additionally, he also posted photographs with Haryana BJP leader Anil Jain, and former INC leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

According to police, the cocaine was smuggled into Delhi by road from various states while the hydroponic marijuana originated from Phuket, Thailand. The accused allegedly used cryptocurrency to evade detection by law enforcement agencies.

Media reports claimed, Tushar Goyal was maintaining connections with a Dubai-based businessman as well as infamous D-Company, which is run under FBI’s Most-Wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim.

It may be mentioned here that Adani Group is a massive business conglomerate in India enjoying favor from the ruling BJP.

On October 11, 2021, the Adani Ports in a statement said that the terminals it runs will not handle cargo from Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan starting November 15. The move came after a huge drugs haul in Gujarat. “With effect from 15th November, APSEZ will not handle EXIM (Export-Import) containerized cargo originating from Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan”, the group said in a statement. This advisory will apply to all terminals operated by APSEZ and including third party terminals at any APSEZ port till further notice, the statement added.

This statement came as on September 13, 2021, around 3,000 kilograms of heroin was seized from two containers at Gujarat’s Mundra port, run by the Adani Group. The consignment had come from Afghanistan, one of the largest illegal producers of opium.

The heroin was concealed in jumbo bags said to contain unprocessed talc powder. The drug was placed in the lower layers of the bags and then topped with talc stones to avoid detection.

In a statement released soon after, the Adani Group said: “No port operator across the country can examine a container. Their role is limited to running the port… APSEZ is a port operator providing services to shipping lines. We have no policing authority over the containers or the millions of tonnes of cargo that pass through the terminals in Mundra or any of our ports”.

In July 2024, the Customs Department at Mundra port in Gujarat’s Kutch district, which is operated by Adani Group, seized 6.8 million Tramadol tablets worth Indian Rupees 1.10 billion from two export containers destined for the West African countries of Sierra Leone and Niger.

On February 5, 2023, Indian politician Jawhar Sircar in a tweet stated: “Why did drug mafia choose Adani’s Mundra Port to smuggle in world’s highest-ever quantity of heroin — worth astounding ₹21,000/ crores? 6 months ago, another huge consignment of drugs was caught at Adani’s Mundra. Something is really fishy — why Mundra of the 12 ports available?”

Adani Group also faces other allegations and controversies.

According to a report published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), an investigation into whether India’s powerful Adani Group was overvaluing the coal it sold to power companies was effectively stopped in the courts after Adani legally challenged regulators’ attempts to collect evidence. Later OCCRP obtained some of the evidence regulators sought and it appears to support the allegations, including overcharging.

In the report, OCCRP stated, on January 9, 2014, the bulk carrier MV Kalliopi L docked at Ennore port in Chennai, the southern Indian city in Tamil Nadu, after a two-week voyage from Indonesia. It carried 69,925 metric tons of coal destined for the state’s power company.

However, the paperwork for the cargo took a more circuitous route, passing though the British Virgin Islands and Singapore.

During this journey, the price of the coal more than tripled to US$ 91.91 per metric ton. The quality also inexplicably changed from low-grade steam coal to the clean, high-quality version sought by power companies.

MV Kalliopi L’s profitable trip was not an isolated event. Documents obtained by OCCRP and shared with the Financial Times reveal that at least 24 other shipments that landed on the Tamil Nadu coast between January and October 2014 were originally priced as low-quality coal but ultimately sold by India’s Adani Group to the state’s power company for triple the cost.

The evidence comes from multiple sources, including invoices and banking documents from several jurisdictions, details of investigations by India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), leaked documents from a key Indonesian coal supplier for Adani, and a trove of documents obtained from the Indian state-owned power company TANGEDCO (Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation).

While not definitive, the data adds strong new evidence to over-invoicing allegations against the politically powerful Adani Group, which is perceived as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and is India’s largest importer and private producer of coal.

It further said: Arappor Iyakkam, a Tamil Nadu-based NGO that has been fighting for accountability in the alleged coal scam, estimates the state’s power company TANGEDCO overpaid Indian Rupees 60 billion (US$720 million) for coal from all vendors between 2012-2016, during which nearly half the value of its tenders were given to Adani, according to the organization. The NGO filed a complaint against TANGEDCO in 2018 with the state anti-corruption agency.

On February 6, 2023, Qatar-based Al Jazeera in a report stated, “Allegations of stock market manipulation and fraud have halved the net worth of Indian tycoon Gautam Adani, one of the wealthiest people in the world, in less than two weeks and wiped more than US$110bn from his listed firms in India”.

According to Al Jazeera, Adani Group is India’s biggest airport operator and also controls the Mundra Port in Adani’s home state, the country’s largest private port. Within this umbrella of businesses, seven firms are listed on the Indian stock exchanges. The Adani Group also owns a controversial coal mine in Australia, the Carmichael mine, which has been a lightning rod for climate change activists.

Supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party told Blitz that Indian National Congress is playing a direct role behind well-orchestrated media offensives targeting Adani Group, which resulted in publication of reports in a number of Indian media outlets as well as OCCRP and Al Jazeera.

For this reason, our own reporters are cross-checking allegations brought against Adani Group of stock market manipulation, fraud, selling coal at an exorbitant price and involvement in drug trafficking.

Our reporters also are investigating mystery behind Tushar Goyal’s dramatic inclusion in the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) and his ouster, as we have received a scoop claiming, Goyal promised to pay a huge amount of cash to Raul Vinci every month as well as place a significant amount of cash towards election campaign of INC in exchange for the post and he was ousted for failures in complying with his promises.

It may be mentioned here that OCCRP receives funding from George Soros while Soros is frantically trying to destroy India’s economy through multiple ways, where he uses Indian National Congress and its top leaders – Antonia Albina Maino and Raul Vinci are his key players. For decades, Antonia Albina Maino, an extremely controversial figure having dubious past and connections with Pakistani spy agency ISI has been associated with at least two organizations funded by George Soros, whereas her son – Raul Vinci maintains deeper connections with George Soros and his son Alexander Soros (also known as Alex Soros).