Drugs valued at Rs 91 lakh seized in four days, 19 held

The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police seized drugs worth more than Rs 91 lakh in five different cases reported in the past four days. At least 19 people have been arrested.

The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police seized drugs worth more than Rs 91 lakh in five different cases reported in the past four days. At least 19 people have been arrested.

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The biggest haul was from Mankhurd Link Road on March 2, when the ANC seized a

truck carrying more than 900 kg of cannabis concealed in coconut shells. Five people were arrested.

“Initial interrogation of the accused revealed that the contraband was being transported to the city from Orissa at the instance of a person named, Dhanu alias Raju,” said Commissioner of Police, D. Sivanandhan. The police are trying to trace Raju.

In the second case, charas worth more than 31 lakh was seized from a Honda City car at Jogeshwari (East). The police said the drugs were hidden in cavities carved out in the car’s interiors.

A Kashmiri native, Abdul Rehman alias Haji, and five others were arrested in the case. The police said the narcotic was being brought from Jammu and Kashmir for consumption in Mumbai’s pubs.

Links to the Valley are being probed in another case in which charas worth over Rs 31.8 lakh, again concealed in cavities in a car, was seized near a mill in Parel.

The police have named Nishant Sheikh as the mastermind of the syndicate that was handling this consignment. Five people have been arrested in the case. One of them, Dilip Bua (60), was held in Nagpur two years ago on similar charges.

In two other cases, three Nigerians were arrested — one was picked up from Khar and the others, from Masjid Bunder--with 30 gm of cocaine.

The police said the ANC has seized drugs worth Rs 5 crore in the past eight months — more than double the amount of seizures made in the previous eight months.

The police do not think there is any cross-border angle to any of these cases.