Brown sugar worth Rs 1 crore seized in Thane, one held

Thane: Brown sugar worth about Rs one crore was seized and a 40-year-old drug-peddler arrested in Thane district, police said on Wednesday.

Acting on a tip-off, the anti-narcotic cell laid a trap at Chhatrapati Shivaji Civic hospital in Kalwa township of the district on Monday and nabbed the accused, said to be the kingpin of the drug-peddling racket, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime), Thane, Parag Manere told reporters in Thane.

As per information received by police, the accused, hailing from Malda in West Bengal, was to come near the hospital on Monday to sell opium. Upon search, 3.040 kg of opium worth around Rs 4.56 lakh was seized from his possession, he said.

Later, police searched the house of the accused at Nilje in Kalyan area of the district and seized a stock of around 1 kg of brown sugar, worth nearly Rs 1 crore in market, he said.

The interrogation of the accused revealed that two more persons assisted him in the racket, police said adding that a search was on to nab them.