E-Paper
Drugs case: Police seize 3 kg gold from residence of Balkawade
Pune city police crime branch officials seized 3 kg gold from the house search of drug haul case arrested accused Abhishekh Balkawade
PUNE On Friday, Pune city police crime branch officials confirmed that they have seized 3 kg of gold from the house search of arrested accused Abhishekh Balkawade, which might have been purchased by the money generated from the drug cartel.
On Tuesday, in a joint operation by Pune city police and Special Task Force (STF) Lalit Patil’s brother Bhooshan Patil and his associate Abhishekh Balkawade were arrested from Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh. The duo allegedly had been planning to escape to Nepal from there.
During interrogation, police found that they had purchased a large amount of gold from the money generated by the drug business.
A police officer on condition of anonymity said, “ In the house search of Balkawade we seized 3 kg gold. They might have purchased gold from money earned from the drug business.’’
Police told the court on Wednesday that they have CCTV footage of how the accused drug dealer Lalit Patil’s brother Bhushan and his associate Balkawade supplied drugs to another arrested accused Subhash Mandal in order to fulfil the deal.
According to police, they have CCTV footage of how Bhushan and Blakawade handed over drug samples to Mandal before his arrest.
Police also suspect that the accused have some interstate and international connections related to drugs. But exact details related to it will come into light only after a detailed investigation.
Police also suspect that the accused were running more such illegal drug production units from various parts of the state.
As per police, Bhushan has expertise in chemical formation and he was the mastermind of the mephedrone production unit in Nashik.
