Two arrested with 25kg ephedrine in Thane

The duo was arrested under sections 9 (a), 25 (a) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

A 50-year-old cloth merchant and his 38-year-old driver were arrested by the Thane Rural Police on Saturday morning with 25kg of banned contraband drug ephedrine, worth ₹3 crore, in Navghar, Bhayander (East).

The seized drugs are worth ₹3 crore, said Navghar police.(Praful Gangurde)

This is one of the biggest seizures in Thane rural district in recent times. Dr Shivaji Rathod, district superintendent of police (DSP), Thane Rural Police, said the accused have been identified as Yogesh Ramanlal Shah, the cloth merchant and Sadev Vaijnath Jamadar, his driver — both residents of Kandivli.

The duo was arrested under sections 9 (a), 25 (a) and 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and will be produced before the Thane court, said Rathod.

“We received a tip-off that the accused would be arriving near a hotel in Navghar to deliver the 25kg contraband and waited for them since Friday. Early on Saturday, the two accused arrived in an auto with the contraband and we arrested them,” he said.

Rathod also said they are probing from where the men sourced the drugs. “We are not ruling out an international drug syndicate operating from Thane district,” he said.