NCB bust drug racket targeting teenagers in Mahim, one held

After more than a dozen affluent personalities living in the vicinity of Mahim Dargah lodged complaints that their children were being lured into consuming drugs by suppliers, a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) team, comprising at least 20 officials, conducted a raid in Mahim on Saturday evening and arrested one person who was allegedly providing drugs to these minors.

After more than a dozen affluent personalities living in the vicinity of Mahim Dargah lodged complaints that their children were being lured into consuming drugs by suppliers, a Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) team, comprising at least 20 officials, conducted a raid in Mahim on Saturday evening and arrested one person who was allegedly providing drugs to these minors.

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Apart from arresting the man, the NCB also seized hashish worth ₹10 lakh from him and also rounded up around 20 to 25 minors who were consuming hashish behind the dargah. Some of them are as young as 13 to 14 years, hail from affluent families and are students of some prestigious schools. The children were counselled by NCB officials in front of their parents and some were released with a warning, while others are still being counselled by them.

According to NCB officials, the drug suppliers targeted school-going children by initially providing the drugs free or at a cheap rate and once they got addicted, the supplier recovered huge amounts from them for a few grams of hashish.

Throwing light on the operation, zonal director, Sameer Wankhede, from the NCB, said, “In June we received a lot of complaints from Mahim residents about the drug trafficking prevalent in the vicinity. Following that, a team of NCB officials kept surveillance and raided the area and intercepted one drug peddler”.

The drug supplier was identified as Wasim Mohammad Shamim Nagor, who was arrested from the Mahim beach area. During the search, 101g of hashish were recovered from him, said Wankhede.

Another official added that the parents had told the NCB that after their attempts to restrain their children had failed they were constrained to approach the NCB. The spot from which Nagor was arrested, several teenage users (age group of 13 to 20 years) were found at the place. Some of them were consuming drugs. They were brought to the Dargah area where the NCB officials counselled them on the ill-effects of drug abuse in the presence of their parents who were also apprised of the perils of drug use, added Wankhede.

After enquiring from children, it was learnt that Nagor was peddling drugs to lots of youngsters in the area and was slowly turning them into addicts. Nagor was even using some of the children to peddle drugs. The parents were told that the NCB would extend all help if they wanted to send their children for rehabilitation. The NCB also warned the parents that the next time the children were found involved in such activities, strict action would be initiated against the children, added NCB official. NCB officials will keep continuous surveillance in the area to take action against drug traffickers. The further investigation is going on, added NCB official.