NCB-Mumbai Seized 210 Kgs Ganja At Khopoli, Probe Begins

210 kgs Ganja seized, 01 trafficker along with vehicle apprehended by NCB-Mumbai at Khopoli, Maharashtra on September 1.

Mumbai:  The NCB-Mumbai has delivered another major blow to the interstate drug trafficking wherein a huge consignment of high-quality Ganja was seized on September 1, which was being transported into Mumbai and adjoining areas. In this matter, 210 kgs of high-quality Ganja along with 01 traffickers and a vehicle used for transportation has been seized. The apprehended person is a primary resident of Mumbai and was involved in Ganja supply and other drugs in various parts of Mumbai especially Govandi, Mankhurd and other local areas for last few years.

The inception of the information was gathered through reliable sources wherein it was reported that due to multiple enforcement activities by the agency in recent past, the suppliers were in high demand for supply of the contraband after which associates in the syndicate had setup an arrangement to pull off a delivery of huge consignment sourced from Andhra Pradesh – Odisha area to Mumbai. In light of this emergence of the input, the intelligence networks were alerted for identification of the entities involved in the said trafficking. After rigorous effort, certain workable information was analysed wherein the delivery of the contraband was to be done some place near Pune and was destined for Govandi, Mumbai.

Yesterday, the information was analysed which ascertained the planning and route of the illicit drug trafficking movement.

Accordingly, the field operational team of NCB-Mumbai set out towards the routes thus analysed and maintained discreet cordon and waited for further instruction about movement of the traffickers. In due time, the trafficker and the vehicle was physically tracked which was moving on Pune-Mumbai Highway towards Mumbai. However, the driver changed its course and diverted the vehicle off route around Khopoli area to which the NCB officials sensed that the driver was seasoned trafficker in this route and was applying dodging maneuvers. After vehicular pursuit for a while, the vehicle was stopped for preliminary checking.

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The identity of the driver was confirmed first and when preliminary questioning was done about the suspicious goods in the vehicle, the person could not give satisfactory answers. To this, a thorough search of the vehicles were conducted which resulted in identification of 98 packets sealed with brown adhesive tapes, which is a common method for packaging of drugs which when unpacked, a total of 210 kgs of Ganja was recovered. Thereafter, the person was apprehended and the contraband along with vehicles was seized in accordance to the legal procedures.

During interrogation of the person, he stated about his previous involvement in the drug trafficking. He mentioned that due to recent consignment seizures, few of which were seized by the agency recently, he was getting high demand for urgent supply of Ganja to the local paddlers in Mumbai . He procured the drug from Pune which was sourced by a main supplier. He is a seasoned trafficker and have been in the illicit drug trafficking business for the around last 4-5 years and was involved in multiple inter-state transportation trips for the drug movement. He was in the radar of the agency and was eluding due to manoeuvres like frequent mobile phone change and other tactics during such movement. The drugs were sourced from Andhra Pradesh-Odisha area which is a hotbed for Ganja cultivation. The said contraband was destined for delivery to the Mumbai and adjoining based multiple local peddlers.

The investigation is being conducted and person is being further interrogated about other associates in the syndicate, other contraband storage and supply linkages, details of the local peddlers and other drug nexus linkages spread across various states of India.