Navi Mumbai: Nigerian national held, MD drug worth Rs 10 lakh seized

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Police have arrested a Nigerian national in Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai and seized from him mephedrone or MD drug worth around Rs 10 lakh, an official told news agency PTI on Saturday.

The accused was arrested at Kopar Khairane on Friday night, he said.

"Based on a tip-off, the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Navi Mumbai police laid a trap at a parking spot in Kopar Khairane and nabbed the accused around 9 pm," the police official told PTI.

The accused, identified as 31-year-old Nnachor Paul, was found carrying 100 grams of the MD drug, the police official told PTI.

Following this, he was formally arrested and an offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered against him, reported PTI.

Meanwhile, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized 101.31 kg of banned hypnotic sedative methaqualone worth Rs 50.65 crore here and arrested five persons allegedly involved in its smuggling, an official told PTI on Friday.

The DRI's regional unit intercepted a car with Telangana number plate on August 22 in Pune and found plastic containers filled with a crystalline substance, the official told PTI.

Preliminary tests indicated that it was methaqualone, but further forensic analysis was being done, he added.

During the course of the probe, the DRI arrested five persons from Telangana, Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, the official told PTI.

The accused were engaged in the illegal sale, purchase, transportation and export of psychotropic substances. The cartel may be spread in different states and also have overseas connections, the official told PTI.

Last week, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence has seized a white powder, purported to be cocaine, worth about Rs 15 crore from an Indian passenger at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport here, a DRI official told PTI.

Based on intelligence, the passenger who came via a flight from Addis Ababa to Mumbai was apprehended on August 18, he said.

An examination of his luggage resulted in the recovery of 1,496 grams of a white powder, purported to be cocaine, with a value of approximately Rs 15 crore in the illicit market, the official told PTI.

Further, based on sustained interrogation of the passenger and surveillance, the DRI officers laid a trap and apprehended the recipient, who came to collect the contraband at Vashi in neighbouring Navi Mumbai, he said.

The nabbed recipient is a female Ugandan national, the official told PTI.

Both the carrier and recipient have been arrested under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. An investigation is in progress to unearth further links of the drugs supply chain, the official told PTI.

(With inputs from PTI)