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Luxury cars become new drug carriers
The drug mafia in India has now started transporting drugs in high-end vehicles. The Anti-Narcotics Control (ANC) of Mumbai police have noticed a rise in trend for using more SUVs, MUVs and luxury vehicles rather than tempos and trucks that were earlier used.
The drug mafia in India has now started transporting drugs in high-end vehicles. The Anti-Narcotics Control (ANC) of Mumbai police have noticed a rise in trend for using more SUVs, MUVs and luxury vehicles rather than tempos and trucks that were earlier used.
The drugs are brought into the city by road and transported in expensive vehicles, which often escape police searches and the consignment is directly delivered into the city according to ANC officers.
In the past 11 months, the ANC have seized 17 vehicles out of which, 12 were luxury sedans, MUVs and SUVs.
These vehicles are together estimated to be worth around Rs 1 crore.
In the earlier corresponding period, the ANC had seized 13 vehicles out of which seven were SUVs and MUVs.
"A majority of the vehicles used earlier were Tata Sumos or trucks and tempos," said an ANC officer.
ANC sleuths claim that the use of such expensive vehicles by drug peddlers is on the rise in the city because of the extra space available in these vehicles for hiding drugs in their cavities.
"Luxury cars such as Honda City, MUVs like Tavera jeep and Mahindra Xylo are popular. Drug peddlers stash the contraband in the secret compartments carved inside the vehicles," said an officer from ANC.
Owing to the plush interiors of these vehicles, the contraband can be hidden in the leather upholstery and other accessories.
Compared to other heavy load vehicles, Tavera is more spacious and is ideal for stashing narcotics.
"Taveras have bigger doors and the boot of the vehicle has a lot of space where hidden compartments can be created," said the officer.
These vehicles according to the ANC are mostly registered in Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan or Andhra Pradesh.
"This trend also indicates that the investment in drug peddling business has become high and returns are high as well," said the official.
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