Thane crime: Man held with Rs 6.2 lakh charas

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An official on Thursday said that police have arrested a 30-year-old man after seizing charas valued at Rs 6.24 lakh from his possession in Maharashtra's Thane district, reported news agency PTI.

The man was found moving in a suspicious manner near a skywalk of Dombivili railway station on Tuesday.

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During checking, the police found him to be possessing 1.18 kg of charas, the official from Dombivli police station said, reported PTI.

The contraband was seized and the man, hailing from Darbhanga in Bihar, was arrested and booked under relevant provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, he said.

The police were trying to find out from where the drug was procured and to whom it was to be sold, reported PTI.

In another case, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) conducted a raid at a mephedrone manufacturing unit in Thane district of neighbouring Maharashtra and seized liquid drug worth Rs 800 crore, an official said on Wednesday, reported PTI.

It also carried out a similar operation at a pharmaceutical factory in Bharuch district of Gujarat, where it recovered liquid Tramadol worth Rs 31 crore, he said.

During its operations conducted at both the places on August 5 and 6, the ATS nabbed four persons who were involved in the production and sale of these narcotic substances which are banned under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, said Sunil Joshi, Deputy Inspector General of Police, ATS, reported PTI.

Based on a specific tip-off, an ATS team raided an apartment in Bhiwandi town of Maharashtra on August 5 and nabbed Mohammad Yunus Shaikh (41) and his brother Mohammad Adil Shaikh (34) with nearly 800 kilograms of mephedrone (MD drug) in liquid form and worth Rs 800 crore in the international market, he said, reported PTI.

"Our probe revealed that the two brothers had rented the flat nearly eight months ago to manufacture mephedrone using various chemicals. Their earlier batch failed but this batch was almost ready and the process to produce the final product in powder form was on when the raid was conducted," Joshi said, reported PTI.

On July 18, the ATS had busted a mephedrone manufacturing unit in Palsana area of Surat city and seized drugs and raw material worth Rs 51.4 crore, he said, adding that three persons were also arrested from the spot.

During their interrogation, the trio revealed that Shaikh brothers from Maharashtra were also part of the drug cartel, he said, reported PTI.

In another operation, the agency raided a pharmaceutical unit in Dahej industrial area of Bharuch district and nabbed two persons with liquid Tramadol worth Rs 31 crore, Joshi said.

Tramadol, an opioid pain medication, was notified as a psychotropic substance under the NDPS Act in 2018 and its export is restricted, reported PTI.

The arrested persons were identified as Pankaj Rajput and Nikhil Kapuria, reported PTI.

Investigations revealed that Rajput works as a chief chemist at that factory, where pharmaceuticals are produced as per order, while Kapuria is the owner of a chemical trading firm.

"Kapuria had convinced Rajput to produce Tramadol. They acquired the raw material from a firm in Ahmedabad, whose owner is Harshad Kukadiya. After preparing the liquid Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), the duo used to send the liquid to Kukadiya. With the help of his aides, Kukadiya used to send the liquid to a factory in Gandhinagar to prepare Tramadol tablets," Joshi said, reported PTI.

While Rajput and Kapuria have been arrested, efforts are on to nab others who were involved in this racket, he said.

(With inputs from PTI)