Mumbai: In a major breakthrough, against the drug trafficking syndicates operating in India and especially in Mumbai, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai Zonal Unit busted a major drug syndicate in Mumbai and have seized drugs worth Rs 200 crore including high-quality cocaine, hybrid strain hydroponic weed/ganja, 200 packets of cannabis gummies and have arrested four persons, agency officials said on Friday.
According to the NCB, the said seizure was a result of concerted effort made by the team NCB Mumbai on the leads developed during a recent previous seizure of 200 grams of Cocaine last month. After working on the leads generated in this case and through technical and human intelligence, the NCB Mumbai was finally able to reach at the source of the contraband and 11.540 kilograms of very high-grade cocaine, 4.9 kilograms of hybrid strain Hydroponic Weed/Ganja and 200 packets (total 5.5 kilograms) of Cannabis gummies & Rs 1.60 lakh were recovered from Navi Mumbai, on January 31.
The agency had conducted an operation at a flat in an upscale housing society at Belapur. NCB refused to share details about the accused persons stating the investigations were still underway. The case assumes high significance as Union Home Minister Amit Shah too lauded NCB Mumbai about the detection of this case.
"Bharat crushes drug cartels with zero tolerance. A major breakthrough in Mumbai in seizing very high-grade cocaine, ganja, and cannabis gummies and arresting four people. It is a testament to the success of the top-to-bottom approach to investigation adopted to make PM Shri @narendramodi Ji's vision for a drug-free India a reality. Congratulations to team @narcoticsbureau on this massive success," Shah stated from his X account on Friday.
"In this case, the initial recovery, from an international courier agency in Mumbai, was from a parcel which was destined to Australia. NCB Mumbai was able to backtrack the supply to the bulk quantity, which was concealed at Navi Mumbai. Investigation conducted so far revealed that this syndicate is being operated by a group of people based abroad and some quantities of the seized contraband were sourced from USA to Mumbai and being sent to multiple receivers in India and abroad through courier/small cargo services and human carriers. The persons involved in this case are anonymous to each other, using pseudo-names for day-to-day conversations on drug dealing. In this case, four persons have been arrested so far," said an NCB official.
Two of the accused persons have been identified as Navin Chichkar and Jay K. The NCB sources said that Navin was on the NCB's radar since 2021 in a drugs related case and he is the main handler of the syndicate. The officials said that Jay was accomplice of Chichkar.
