Mumbai: NCB recovers drug worth Rs 120 crore

The NCB recovered 50 kg of the MD from Fort

In a major drug haul, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) recovered 60 kg mephedrone (MD) worth Rs 120 crore in Mumbai on Friday. A former pilot with the national airline and 5 others were arrested by the NCB and it was found that they are also connected to the drug cartel busted by Mumbai Police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) and seizure of drugs worth Rs 2,500 crore in August this year.

The officials have found that the former Air India pilot worked as a middleman for the kingpin and the financers of this, one of biggest MD drug cartels. "One of the persons named SG Mahida was a pilot and served in Air India between 2016-18. He completed his flying training from San Antonio, Texas, USA and Lithuania," said Amit Ghawate, Zonal Director, NCB Mumbai.

The NCB officials are also probing why Mahida resigned in 2018 from Air India. They believe that he may have been asked to resign due to drug related issues or he may have got in touch with the cartel and was making huge money.

According to the NCB, six persons including the kingpin and his key associate were arrested. The officials said information was shared by the Naval Intelligence Unit, Jamnagar, Gujarat on the suspicious activities of few persons. Thereafter, NCB started working in coordination with them and closely monitored various aspects of the specified targets and started gathering additional information.

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Bulk consignment

"Gradually, it was noticed that a bulk consignment of a high quality drug was to be transported from Gujarat to another state," Ghawate added.
The agency then conducted its first raid in Jamnagar and seized 10.350 kg MD and arrested one accused, Bhaskar V. The officials then apprehended three accused from Mumbai which included the former pilot and SM Chowdhary and Muthu PD.

The NCB officials arrested two more accused from Fort including the mastermind of the drug cartel. "On preliminary questioning and follow up action, around 50 kg of MD was recovered from a godown located at SB Path, Fort, Mumbai on Thursday, and kingpin of the cartel identified as MI Ali and his associate MF Chisty were arrested," Ghawate further said. The NCB officials also said the ongoing investigation has revealed that these accused have links to the ANC case where drugs worth Rs 2,500 crore were seized in August this year, and several people were arrested including two post graduates in chemistry. "It appears that this was one of the biggest MD networks. There are some more members still active but the kingpins of this cartel are now behind the bars," an ANC officer said.

Drugs worth Rs 5k crore

The Mumbai Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) on Monday issued a statement saying the worth of the drugs seizure in August this year has now gone up from Rs 2,500 crore to almost Rs 5,000 crore. During the raids at a godown in Gujarat this year in August, the agency also seized 1,200 kg of a substance that looked like mephedrone. "We have received confirmation that the seized substance is mephedrone. Now the total seizure stands at over 2,400 kg of MD, worth Rs 4,853 crore, which is the biggest in the world," said Datta Nalwade, DCP, ANC.