The Thane police, in collaboration with the narcotics department of Thane crime branch, on Friday seized a huge haul of drugs worth Rs 2,000 crore from the outskirts of Thane.
The Thane police, in collaboration with the narcotics department of Thane crime branch, on Friday seized a huge haul of drugs worth Rs 2,000 crore from the outskirts of Thane. Among the drugs seized was 18,600 kg of ephedrine powder and pseudo ephedrine powder. The haul is said to be the biggest ever in the state. A total of seven persons have been arrested in the case under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act and the IPC.
On April 12, police officials got a tip-off from an unidentified informer that a car containing the drugs would arrive at Vartak Nagar near Kashinath Ghanekar Hall. Acting on the tip-off, Thane police arrested two accused, Sagar Powale and Mayur Sukhdare, and seized 2 kg of ephedrine. Upon interrogation of the accused, police got information about other links and started investigating the same. On April 14, police seized 5.50 kg ephedrine powder from a drug dealer, Dhaneshwar Swamy, in Solapur. After interrogating him, police formed two teams comprising Thane crime branch’s narcotics department and local police.
On Friday, the team raided a godown in an isolated area of Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) in Solapur. Around 18,600 kg of Ephedrine powder, worth nearly Rs 2,000 crore was seized from the factory and four persons, including the factory manager, were arrested.
Thane narcotics department ACP, Bharat Shelke, said, “We got links to various hauls, one by one, from the accused who were arrested in the first instance. Some of our sources and police officials then worked on the links and busted the racket that was prevalent all over Maharashtra. Pseudo ephedrine and ephedrine drugs are gravely injurious to health. The factory was functioning illegally. Ephedrine powder is used for sniffing. Sometimes, it is exported to Poland and other European countries. It is also used to manufacture MD powder and Meth Methamphetamine.”
The drugs were mainly being stored in Thane only as it is easy to sell in Mumbai city and Thane suburban. “We have got some links of distributors in Mumbai and other cities in Maharashtra. We have alerted all police officials to keep tabs on activities of suspicious people and certain areas,” said an official from the Thane police. “The Mumbai police has been told to direct their teams to keep a check on activities of drug distributors in the market,” said Mumbai police officials.
