The special NDPS court on Friday discharged a close aide of drug lord Kailash Rajput, Ali Azghar Shirazi, who was booked in May 2023 in connection with the case probed by the Anti-Extortion Cell for smuggling narcotic substances and banned medicines to Australia and the United Kingdom using a courier service. The court had also discharged Rajput’s brother, Kamal, from the case.

Shirazi was arrested in May 2023 from the airport while he was allegedly trying to escape to Dubai. He has been in prison since his arrest. The court, after two years, has discharged him. The detailed order, however, would be available subsequently.

Besides Shirazi, the court has also discharged Kailash’s brother Kamal, who had pleaded that he was made an accused only because of his relation with Kailash and that there is no evidence against his involvement in the drug business. Meanwhile, the Anti-Extortion Cell has recently obtained a fresh non-bailable warrant for Rajput to prepare a dossier for his extradition from London.

The case was registered in March 2023 by the Anti-Extortion Cell after it recovered 15 kilograms of Ketamine and a huge quantity of Viagra tablets from the office of a courier company in Andheri (East). The consignment was valued at ₹8 crores at that time.

It is claimed that Shirazi, along with one Vijay Rane, used his courier companies for shipping prohibited drugs and opioid medicines to London from Mumbai, which were received by Kailash Rajput in London and were sold to customers in London and the USA.

After the arrest by the Anti-Extortion Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch, the Enforcement Directorate too had registered a case against Shirazi, wherein his wife too has been made an accused along with many of his firms which were used for money laundering. ED had claimed that Shirazi continued his business even while he was in prison through his office staff and wife. The agency had claimed that while in jail, a parcel containing drugs worth ₹1 crore was shipped.

Rane, who was questioned by the ED, had told investigators that prohibited drugs and opioid medicines were presented as Viagra to Customs officials for clearance and that funds from the sale of prohibited drugs and opioid medicines were received in cash using Angadiyas.

Shirazi and Rane were arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch in 2023 in connection with contraband drug smuggling to Australia, the United Kingdom (UK), and the UAE through couriers. The Anti-Extortion Cell (AEC) of the Mumbai Crime Branch conducted a raid at the courier office in Andheri East in March 2023, allegedly seizing 15.74 kg of Ketamine valued at ₹7.87 crore and 23,410 strips of a prohibited drug worth ₹58.31 lakh.