MUMBAI/NAVI MUMBAI/THANE: Drugs worth Rs 1.53 crore were seized from different places in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and Thane on Saturday and Sunday. Five people, including two Nigerian nationals, were arrested. The anti-narcotics cell of Mumbai police early on Sunday arrested three persons, including a Nigerian national, and seized 610 grams of banned drug mephedrone also known as MD worth Rs 1.22 crore.In Navi Mumbai, narcotics worth around Rs 24 lakh were seized from a car on the Sion-Panvel highway on December 31. The car driver has been arrested, while an African woman escaped. In Thane, the crime branch arrested a Nigerian national for carrying cocaine worth Rs 6.5 lakh ahead of the New Year Eve.
Over 31,000 kg of drugs worth Rs 5,137 crore was seized in Gujarat this year, with 484 cases registered between January 1 and December 30 under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985, according to police. In view of the rise in drug peddling, police will have strict surveillance during the New Year festivities that begin Saturday.These seizure figures from police’s NDPS cell, however, do not indicate the consumption trend, a top Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) official said.Police have registered 30 cases of drug seizure in December alone. Of these, 22 are cases of marijuana seizure while three cases of hashish and five cases of synthetic or other drugs were also registered, the total seizure amounting to 2,984 kg of drugs worth nearly Rs 3 crore.According to data shared by the Ahmedabad Special Operations Group, 34 cases were registered in Ahmedabad city, nine of them in December. They were related to the seizures of mephedrone, cough syrups, hashish and marijuana.As many as 279 of the total drug seizures in the state were related to marijuana while 149 were related to synthetic or other drugs, 27 to hashish, 10 to opium and nine to heroin (brown sugar).Synthetic drugs accounted for 17,977 kg of seized drugs, followed by 12,230 kg of marijuana and over 10 kg of opium.In 2021, 461 cases were registered in the state, as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.The Ahmedabad Special Operation Group on Wednesday caught two people for peddling 296.78 g of mephedrone worth Rs 29.68 lakh on Sindhu Bhavan Road, an area that will be under strict vigil.Two days earlier, the Indian Coast Guard and the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad caught 10 Pakistanis with 40 kg of heroin, arms and ammunition from a vessel off the Dwarka coast.Director-general of police Ashish Bhatia said the consignment was sent by Haji Salim Baloch, a drug lord in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, and was meant to be dropped between the Okha and Salaya ports.The biggest single seizure in Gujarat was the 2,988 kg of heroin that was smuggled from Afghanistan and seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence from a freight container at the Mundra port on September 13, 2021.S K Mishra, NCB zonal director for Gujarat and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, said, “The number of seizures in a state is not indicative of its consumption trend. The cases we come across are mostly midway seizures, caught in the route of trafficking to some other state or territory… A comparison cannot be drawn between the seizures made in two years as it depends on the quantity of a drug, commercial quantity and its effect. Drugs such as mephedrone can do huge damage even in smaller quantities and are severely habit-forming.”“In the current year, we have 21 such cases where we seized 3,000 kg of narcotics, caught 60 people and seized related properties… The cases are registered under the NDPS Act,” Mishra said, adding that 550 kg of charas, 225 kg of methamphetamine, 1,700 kg of marijuana and about 70 kg of mephedrone were among the drugs seized in 2022.As per the NCRB data for 2021, 461 NDPS Act cases were registered in the state.Ajay Choudhary, a joint commissioner of police with the special branch, told The Indian Express, “Drugs have become a medium to experience ‘thrill’, especially among the youth. It’s just not a one-event thing that we have to be vigilant for a day… it is a gradual, whole-year process…We keep organising events to increase awareness among the youth to stop the use of drugs, and look for the thrill through ‘health addiction’.”A night half marathon would be organised in January 2023 towards this end.Ahead of New Year’s Eve, police have set up 200 checkpoints in and around Ahmedabad, including on SG Highway, Sindhu Bhavan Road, Riverfront, SP Ring Road and Prahaladnagar, near the Vastrapur lake, and in the university area.“Narcotic drug detection kits and drug testing analysers would be used…Various teams have been deployed to keep a check on any case of pick-pocketing, harassment, illegal consumption of drugs or liquor on December 31. Arrangements to prevent traffic jams, rash driving etc have also been made,” Choudhary said.Hotels, guesthouses, clubs, farms and party plots will also be under police surveillance on New Year’s Eve, he added.
NAVI MUMBAI: After three months of investigation, police have arrested two for the murder of an 80-year-old man in Poyanje village of Panvel taluka. The senior citizen's body with multiple stab injuries was found dumped in a pond in September. The murder motive was previous enmity, informed Anil Patil, senior inspector of Panvel taluka police station. "The arrested accused, Sachin Waghmare (36) and Dhanraj Waghmare (33), are neighbours of victim Pandurang Mate. When detained, the cousins revealed they had nursed a grudge against Mate, as he frequently visited Sachin's house when only women were at home. Also, Mate would flash a torch light on their face at night and pick up quarrel," said Patil.
PUNE: The Chakan police have arrested two brothers on the charge of smothering their father, Dhananjay Bansode (43), owner of a snacks manufacturing unit, in their house at Moi near Khed and later burning the body into a furnace at the unit sometime between December 15 and 16.The brothers, both college students, told police that they threw the remnants, including the bones, collected from the furnace into the Indrayani river. “The duo, Sujit (21) and Abhijit (18), were upset with their father over the latter’s affair with a woman,” senior inspector Dnyaneshwar Sabale of the Chakan police told TOI.Mahalunge police chowky’s inspector Kishor Patil, who was part of the team that cracked the case, cited investigation and told TOI, “A few years ago, the Bansodes moved from Osmanabad to Moi near Khed where Dhananjay started the snacks unit (farsan and groundnuts). His sons are pursuing their higher studies at colleges in Pimpri-Chinchwad. Dhananjay and the woman came in contact through a social networking site and they started dating each other. His wife came to know about his affair and she left their home and started staying with her relatives in Pimpri.”Patil said, “Investigations revealed that the brothers first hit Dhananjay on the head with an iron rod and later smothered him with a pillow. Later, they put the body in the big furnace of the snacks unit and set it ablaze. After that, they collected the remnants and threw the smae in Indrayani river.”“The woman with whom Dhanraj was frequently exchanging messages on social media started inquiring about his whereabouts when she did not get either any call or message from the victim. She reached Pune from her home in Vidarha region searching for Dhananjay. On learning about the woman’s search, Sujit and Abhijit approached us on December 19 and lodged a missing person’s complaint,” the officer said.
