Drug racket bust: NCB arrests two, seizes 1 kg curated marijuana worth ₹55 lakh in Maharashtra

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) busted an international drug trafficking racket using the postal services to smuggle drugs in the city and arrested two persons

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) busted an international drug trafficking racket using the postal services to smuggle drugs in the city and arrested two persons with one kilogram of American marijuana or bud worth ₹55 lakh in Pune and Navi Mumbai in Maharshtra. The contraband is an imported curated marijuana and is said to be used by elite socialites and Bollywood celebrities.

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Mumbai zonal director of NCB, Sameer Wankhede, confirmed the arrest and seizure of drugs. One arrested accused is identified as Shrimay Shah, 26, a resident of Ahmedabad in Gujarat while the other is Omkar Tupe, 28, a resident of Nerul in Navi Mumbai. Based on a tip-off, NCB officers intercepted one parcel at Lonavala post office on Saturday with 1,036 gram curated marujuana. “After inquiring we learnt that Shah was the recipient, and he was taken into custody. During further inquiry, 74 grams of curated marijuana was seized from Tupe in Nerul. Both the accused were arrested under sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and were sent to judicial custody. Further inquiry is going on,” said NCB officers.

After preliminary inquiry, it appears that Shah is a drug supplier while Tupe is a consumer, said NCB officers.

The seized came from Canada and was delivered to Mumbai and Ahmedabad using postal services, added an NCB official.

Using postal services for narcotics smuggling is not a new modus operandi for the drug suppliers. Drug suppliers use courier services and local post offices to smuggle drugs in the city as well as abroad. “Government post offices are convenient because parcels are not scanned and the documents of receivers and senders are rarely verified,” said an NCB official.