Mumbai police seize Rs 66 crore worth drugs this year

Mumbai police have seized a whopping Rs 66.58 crore worth of contraband in the city from January till July this year and have arrested 6579 people for their alleged involvement in drug-related offences. According to the statistics, Mephedrone, or MD, is the most valuable contraband that has been seized, worth Rs 24.86 crore, followed by heroin, worth Rs 11.95 crore.

According to the statistics provided by the Mumbai Police, over 949 kilogrammes of contraband have been seized by the police this year. The statistics revealed that this year MD worth Rs 24.86 crore were seized, 91 MD related cases were registered and 121 persons were arrested in these cases.

The statistics further revealed that Rs 11.95 crore worth of heroin was seized this year. 23 heroin-related cases were registered and 27 people were arrested in these cases. The police had seized charas worth Rs 5.52 crore. 18 charas-related cases were registered and 27 people were arrested in these cases. Statistics revealed that cocaine worth Rs 3.17 crore was seized. Eleven cocaine-related cases were registered and 14 people were arrested in these cases. As per the police statistics, ganja worth Rs 2.07 crore has been seized. 355 ganja-related cases were registered and 396 people were arrested in these cases.

Pre-lockdown in 2019, during January to July, there were 8875 drug-related cases and 9559 people were arrested in these cases. The figures have come down significantly this year, with a total of 6342 drug-related cases having been registered and 6579 people having been arrested in these cases. Most of the cases involved consumption of drugs, the police said.

"Consumption cases have come down due to COVID, while possession and trafficking cases were still happening during the COVID restrictions period. In consumption related cases, we apply section 27 of the NDPS Act, which prohibits the consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance. "In such cases, the court fines the person caught in these cases," said deputy commissioner of police, Anti-Narcotics Cell, Datta Nalawade.

Asked what measures Mumbai Police take to create awareness among citizens about drugs and upgrade themselves to track drug-related activities on the darknet, DCP Nalawade said, "We conduct awareness campaigns in schools and give lectures to the students about the ill-effects of drugs. We also do street shows. We have trained officers and experts who keep a watch on drug-related activities on the dark net.