E-Paper
Lawyer, techie amongst five arrested in ₹1.14 cr drug racket
The Anti-Narcotics Squad of Pune Crime Branch seized 41,986 counterfeit LSD stamps drug estimated to be worth ₹1.14 crore from five, including lawyer, techie
PUNE; The Anti-Narcotics Squad (ANS) of the Pune Crime Branch has seized an additional 41,986 counterfeit lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) stamps, a synthetic chemical drug estimated to be worth ₹1.14 crore from a group of five accused who used an online food delivery app to carry out narcotics-related transactions. One of the five accused is a lawyer, another is an IT professional, and the police have also implicated an MBA student.
According to the anti-narcotics squad, the seizure is one of the highest narcotics recoveries during recent times.
A team of ANC officials under police inspector (ANS-Unit I) Vinayak Gaikwad made the arrests and were investigating the accused when one of them revealed a hidden drug consignment kept in a two-wheeler.
Accordingly, the ANS team reached the spot and recovered the LSD stamps.
The arrested have been identified as Rohan Gavai, Sushant Gaikwad, Dhiraj Lalwani, Deepak Gehlot, and Omkar Patil. The police seized a cellphone and a two-wheeler from the accused and lodged an FIR against the accused at Yerwada police station under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The ANS in a statement said that during custodial interrogation, one of the arrested suspects, Omkar disclosed that he had stored the LSD stamps in the trunk of his motorcycle. Acting on the information, the team, under Gaikwad, recovered the additional 1,250 LSD stamps with an approximate value of ₹62.3 lakh hidden in the motorcycle’s trunk.
Additional CP (crime) Ramnath Pokale said, “Out of the five accused, Gavai is an MBA student, Gaikwad is an IT professional while Lalwani holds an LLB degree. The accused were using a food delivery app for carrying out their drug ring operations.”
