Anti Narcotics Cell arrests duo for selling methamphetamine worth ₹4.7L in Navi Mumbai

The Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Navi Mumbai crime branch recently arrested a fish seller and a hotel manager possessing ₹4.7 lakh worth of methamphetamine.

The Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Navi Mumbai crime branch recently arrested a fish seller and a hotel manager possessing ₹4.7 lakh worth of methamphetamine. The accused men were selling the drugs in Koparkhairane when they were arrested last week.

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The ANC officials said they received information about a possible drug deal in Sector 19, Koparkhairane. The officials vetted it and laid a trap near Jai Santoshi Maa playground on October 26.

The accused duo, identified as Virendra Pujari, 43, and Mithun Pujari, 31, were nabbed and searched on suspicion.

“Our information was verified after the two men were spotted near the footpath, where they arrived on a motorbike. We seized 94 grams of methamphetamine from their possession,” said Ravindra Budhwant, senior inspector at the ANC.

Virendra works as a fish seller while his accomplice, Mithun, was working at a hotel as a manager. Both are residents of Koparkhairane. Virendra, too, had started working at a hotel, but during the lockdown in March, the men had no jobs as hotels were shuttered.

The duo claimed that they started peddling drugs during the lockdown but police suspect that Virendra had been in the business for longer. Mithun has joined the trade recently, said an officer, privy to the investigations.

Police said the men would purchase drugs from Mumbra in Thane and then sell it in Navi Mumbai. The ANC is on the lookout for their supplier who is yet to be arrested.

Police found ₹2.62 lakh worth 52 grams of drugs on Virendra and Mithun was carrying the remaining drugs of ₹2.1 lakh in a small packet of 42 grams.

The duo has been booked under various sections of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. During the raid, police also seized the men’s phones and the motorbike on which they arrived. The accused are currently remanded in judicial custody.