Agency's crackdown has revealed worrying trend of narcotics use among college youngsters, who prefer ganja and mephedrone
The women peddlers (in red and yellow) arrested from Worli, and another (in striped shirt, below), from Andheri
The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) on Thursday arrested a drug peddler, Asif Chuha, 34, from Andheri and seized 58 g of mephedrone (MD) worth at Rs 1.16 lakh from him. Well aware that as per the NDPS Act he can't be arrested if he doesn't have the drugs on him, the accused used to bribe schoolchildren with chocolate, toys, money and video games to get them to deliver the narcotics to collegians.
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Chuha, who has six cases registered against him under assault, NDPS and other sections at DN Nagar police station, was arrested by inspector Anil Wandhavne and sub-inspector Shankar Pawale. He had been convicted and sentenced to two years in another case; after release, he had started dealing in MD.
ANC's Worli unit also struck gold on Thursday, when it managed to arrest two women peddlers and seized 15 kg of ganja worth Rs 15 lakh from them. The two, too, used to sell to collegians around Worli and Dadar. Identified as Lata Chaure, 43, and Rani Barsaiyya, 56, the two were arrested by a team led by inspector Ninad Sawant and assistant inspector Amar Marathe.
Cheap thrills
Marijuana is the choice of most collegians for its cheapness, while mephedrone is preferred by their pub-going peers, for being cheaper than cocaine. This is what ANC's crackdown has revealed.
Over the last one month, it has been conducting Operation College Clean — keeping an eye on drugs sold near colleges. An ANC officer said ganja is sold for a mere R50-100 per packet, giving a lot of youngsters easy access to it; they smoke it after mixing it in a cigarette.
OD-ing on MD
Among the slightly better-off collegians, especially those who frequent discos and pubs, MD is the popular choice, as cocaine is too heavy on their pockets, said an ANC officer.
One gram of MD costs anywhere between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500, while cocaine costs over Rs 5,000 per gram. On July 18, the Ghatkopar unit of ANC arrested Akil Shaikh, 21, near a Vidya Vihar college with 60 g of MD, while on August 10, the Worli unit arrested Imtiyaz Shaikh near a Mazgaon college with 61 g of MD.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (ANC) Shivdeep Lande said they have received a lot of complaints about drugs being sold near colleges, and in the last one month, they have filed several cases and arrested peddlers with ganja and MD.
Also Read: 27-year-old Nigerian drug smuggler arrested with heroin worth Rs 1.8 crore
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