Sources said the informers who provide crucial tips on drug dealings in the city and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have either left the city or stopped communicating with NCB officers fearing they might land in trouble
NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede at the agency’s office at Ballard Estate on Tuesday. Pic/Suresh Karkera
The Narcotics Control Bureau’s Mumbai unit that started with a bang with 15-20 cases every month is now reduced to two detections following the drugs-on-cruise bust involving Aryan Khan. NCB officers said their work primarily depends on human intelligence and the intense media attention and sledging between state minister Nawab Malik and their Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede have made informers fear they will also be dragged into the row.
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The NCB busted a rave party involving Aryan Khan
Sources said the informers who provide crucial tips on drug dealings in the city and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region have either left the city or stopped communicating with NCB officers fearing they might land in trouble. “Protecting the informers’ identity is one of our topmost priorities as they receive threats to their lives from multiple national and international drug cartels. But due to the allegations [against Wankhede and some NCB officers], the identities of some informers in the cruise drug case got leaked along with their residential addresses. The others are also fearing for their lives and hence they have stopped communicating with us and our human intelligence information has become almost zero. We are getting only what we can track through the digital medium,” said an NCB officer requesting anonymity.
On the cruise ship Cordelia on October 2
The agency’s Mumbai unit that registered many cases following the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput last year and took action against drug cartels operating in Mumbai has been heavily criticised on social media after minister Malik held multiple press conferences to allege that the drugs-on-cruise case was fake and an attempt to extort money from Shah Rukh Khan.
The informer-driven NCB raids had helped the agency to crack down on a network of drug peddlers operating in Mahim that involved kids to sells drugs to youngsters. After losing faith in local cops, the residents had approached the NCB, which took swift action. Another major drug cartel from Dongri was busted by the agency with the arrest of its kingpin. The agency also reined in a network of peddlers that operated from Jammu and Kashmir. NCB had also won praise for its raids.
Sameer Wankhede at NCB Ballard Estate office. File/Atul Kamble
Malik’s allegations also got more weightage as he backed them with a lot of evidence like visuals showing witness KP Gosavi and BJP worker Manish Bhanushali escorting Aryan Khan and recording his voice inside the NCB office. “Because of the allegations and counter-allegations, the informers are losing faith as they believe that we are into some wrong activities and the same stories have become subjects of primetime debates. Since the cruise drug matter, there is not a single case we have registered apart from the airport case which was found during scanning,” the officer added.
Informers scared
An NCB informer, who requested anonymity citing threats to his life, said, “I’ve not lost faith in the NCB but it is true that I am not communicating with anyone. I have given many tips to Mumbai ANC [anti narcotics cell] and NCB. The ongoing controversy has put our lives in danger and I have got multiple threats. I was once attacked by peddlers before the controversy, but now they are threatening me again. Many informers like me have stopped sharing inputs not only with NCB but with Mumbai police’s ANC as well.”
The NCB has come under intense media attention following the arrest of Aryan Khan
NCB officers said they registered 11 NDPS cases in September and arrested dozens of people. In October, only two cases were registered including the Cordelia cruise rave party bust. They have registered just one case so far this month.
Huge challenge for us: Officer
“We use to receive 30-35 complaints from locals and NGOs about the drug activities in their areas and that has also stopped since last one month. The informers have either stopped communicating or they went out of the city as they are scared about their safety,” the officer said.
“We don't know how to overcome this challenge, but it somewhere helping drug traffickers. Whatever be the allegations, there should be a probe and that is why the vigilance team is working. We hope that someday things will be back to normal,” said the officer.
Malik has been addressing the media almost daily, levelling allegations against Wankhede and NCB officers. He has alleged that cases were foisted on people only to extort money at the behest of Wankhede and this has been happening since the Sushant Singh Rajput case.
11
No. of NDPS cases filed by NCB in September
1
No of cases in October other than cruise haul
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