Mumbai Crime: Thane police arrest their informer in drug peddling case

Almost a month after the name of a trusted police informer Kumail Merchant cropped up in a drug peddling case, following the arrest of a peddler Siraj Munshi, the Thane police arrested the former from Goa late on Saturday evening. Merchant, who mainly operates from Mumbra, was produced in court on Sunday and was sent to police custody for two days.

Speaking to mid-day, Abhishek Trimukhe, deputy commissioner of police, Thane, said, "Officers of the Anti-Narcotic Cell of Thane Crime Branch picked him up from Goa. He has been remanded to police custody for two days."

According to sources, Merchant had earned accolades for himself after he provided information to the police and helped them bust a '2,000 crore drug racket, in which Vicky Goswami and actor Mamta Kulkarni were involved. While on one hand he continued to earn the police's trust, on the other he expanded his own drug peddling business. He would wrongly tip off the police about peddlers who refused to purchase drugs from him and get them arrested.

A month ago the police got to know about his business after Munshi revealed that he worked for Merchant and even supplied drugs for him. Sources claimed that Merchant was arrested along with his girlfriend Nagma. She was the wife of one of his peddler friends, who was nabbed based on information provided by him. Later, Merchant and Nagma got into a relationship.

Police sources said that since the time Merchant's involvement in the drug business came to the fore, Muslim community leaders in Mumbra have been pressurising the cops to arrest him as several social workers, corporators and youngsters were a part of the network.