Woman caught red-handed with drugs worth Rs 5 lakhs

The Navi Mumbai police’s anti-narcotics cell has arrested a female drug peddler, Shanno Ramjan Shaikh (36) — who was earlier allegedly a police informer — with 127.2 gm of banned narcotic methaqualone, estimated to be worth Rs 5 lakh. The accused was caught ‘red-handed’ while in the process of selling the narcotic.

According to police sources, the woman was once a police source and later turned into a drug supplier. The police suspect that Shaikh has multiple aliases and chances are that ‘Shanno’ is a fake name. Officers are also checking whether she was involved in other drug cases or not.

The police said that they were tipped off that a certain amount of methaqualone would exchange hands in the CBD area. Following this information, a few officers in plainclothes were deployed in the area.

After they kept a watch for two days, Shaikh turned up in the area on Sunday for the sale, said a police officer. He added that when Shaikh reached plot number 6 of sector 11 in CBD, Belapur, around 6.25 pm, the officers present there intercepted her on the basis of her suspicious behaviour.

When she was searched, officers found 127.2 grams of the methaqualone ice drug and 75.7 grams of ketamaine powder, another controlled substance, on her. Put together, the drugs have a market value of Rs 5,95,940, said the police.

The police added that Shaikh, an Antop Hill resident, was visiting Belapur to deliver the drugs to someone. Officials are now trying to identify who that person was who was supposed to receive drug from her.

Shaikh was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, along with under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, for her involvement in the selling of drugs.