Gutkha manufacturing unit busted at Thane’s Mira Road flat

FDA officials also seize sacks of gutkha and sophisticated machines worth Rs6.34 lakh

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Thane, has busted a gutkha manufacturing unit that was being run from an apartment in Naya Nagar on Mira Road and arrested one person in this connection. FDA officials also seized from the apartment sacks of gutkha and sophisticated machines that were used to manufacture the gutkha, totally worth Rs6.34 lakh.

Some of the sacks of gutkha that were seized during the raid. (HT)

The owner of the unit, Sachin Kashid, 45, was arrested. Earlier, gutkha used to be smuggled from Gujarat through the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway 8 but now, the raid uncovered a manufacturing unit inside a rented flat.

The raid was conducted on Monday in a high-rise located above Hotel Jalaja Inn in Mira Road, where the unit was flourishing, said Manek Jadhav, an FDA official.

“We have registered an FIR under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and regulations of the Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restrictions on Sales) Regulations, 2011 in this context at the Naya Nagar police station,” said Jadhav.

Samples of the seized gutkha have been sent to the FDA for testing.

Earlier, gutkha used to be smuggled from Gujarat through the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway 8 but the raid uncovered a manufacturing unit inside a rented flat.