Mumbai police force drug peddlers to move to outskirts of city

Number of arrests rises to 201 in eight months as against 212 in entire 2016

Recent crackdowns against drug peddlers by agencies have forced many of them to conduct their businesses away from the city, according to senior officers.

Police said that most peddlers have become reluctant to seal major deals within Mumbai. (HT)

Interrogations of arrested accused in drug deals revealed that peddlers have become reluctant to seal major deals within Mumbai, officers said. They now prefer places out of the city limits such as Nalasopara, Vasai and Mumbra after multiple agencies turned up the heat on them, they added.

Apart from the anti-narcotics cell of the Mumbai police, all the 93 police stations have also been cracking the whip. Deputy commissioner of police, anti-narcotics cell, Shivdeep Lande said they were keeping a constant watch to ensure drugs are not sold in the city and as a result, most peddlers have started avoiding the city.

This year, 201 people have been arrested in 141 cases of drug deals in eight months, Mumbai Police statistics revealed. Throughout last year, a total of 212 arrests were made in 175 cases.

In most of these cases, the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act is applied, under which getting bail is not easy, officials said.

Earlier in September, the Amboli police arrested two men and seized 1kg of heroin worth Rs 30 lakh from them. In the same month, the anti-narcotics cell (ANC) arrested two Kashmiri men forl selling charas collectively worth Rs1.40 crore. In August, the ANC arrested six African nationals for trying to sell mephedrone, cocaine in Worli, Bandra and Dongri.