The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad has seized 120 kilograms of heroin from Zinzuda village in the state’s Morbi district, The Hindu reported on Monday, citing officials.

Three persons – identified as Mukhtar Hussein alias Jabbar Jodiya, Shamsuddin Hussein Saiyyed and Ghulam Hussein Umar Bhagad – have been arrested in relation to the seizure. The accused allegedly received the consignment of drugs from Pakistan via sea route.

“Preliminary investigation revealed that the consignment was brought by Mukhtar Hussein and Ghulam Bhagad after receiving the delivery from a Pakistani boat,” the anti-terrorism squad said in a press release.

The release added that a person named Zahid Bashir Baloch, who lives in Pakistan, had sent the consignment. Baloch is said to be absconding in a 2019 case related to the seizure of 227 kilograms of heroin.

The consignment was initially hidden in a coastal area near the Salaya town in the Devbhumi Dwarka district, PTI quoted Gujarat Director General of Police Ashish Bhatia as saying. The heroin was meant to be transported to an African country, he added.

Bhatia said that the conspiracy for the delivery of the heroin was hatched in the United Arab Emirates, like most such cases in the past.

This was the second large drug haul in Gujarat in the past two months. On September 21, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence had seized nearly three tonnes of heroin worth Rs 21,000 crore from the Mundra Port. The drugs, that were disguised as a consignment of semi-processed talc stones, had arrived from Afghanistan through Iran’s Bandar Abbas port.

On October 6, the National Investigation Agency took over the investigation of the case and booked the accused persons under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad has seized drugs worth over Rs 1,900 crore since 2016, PTI quoted officials as saying on Monday. Out of these, narcotics worth Rs 900 crore were said to have been recovered this year alone.

The ATS has arrested more than 70 persons in major narcotics-related cases during this period, the officials added.