Two Guj men held with drugs worth Rs 41 lakh

Mumbai: The Mumbai crime branch’s anti-narcotics cell (ANC) arrested two residents of Gujarat and seized around 10.50 kg of cannabis (charas) to the tune of Rs 41.88 lakh from the duo late on Saturday. Officials of the ANC’s  Worli unit said that the duo is a supplier of the banned drugs and the contraband were meant for the city-based peddlers.

The accused were identified as Samirbaig Mirza (29), a motor mechanic and Noman Haider Shaikh (24), a dealer in second-hand motor cars, both from Ahmednagar in Gujarat.

The ANC officials arrested them late on Saturday after receiving a tip-off that the duo would come to Nagpada with the drugs. The officials had laid a trap at the Jumma Masjid road, where they were intercepted. When the police checked the accused persons, they found 5.20 kg cannabis worth Rs 20.82 lakh in possession of Shaikh and remaining 5.26 kg of the contraband worth Rs 21.06 lakh was with Mirza, officials said.  

“We are yet to ascertain the source of the cannabis however we suspect that it has come from Kashmir. We are also checking the antecedents of the arrested duo to find if they have past cases,” said an ANC officer.

A case has been registered against the duo under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and they have been remanded to police custody for further investigation.

Following advent in the peddling of charas, the ANC had prepared a list of 15 local distributors. Cannabis, locally known as Charas, is mainly grown in poppy fields on the hills of border districts of Baramulla and Anantnag and then transported to metro cities including Mumbai under cover.