Drugs trafficking: In several operations over the past week in Mumbai, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has seized drugs worth Rs 1 crore that were intended to be trafficked to Doha, including some that were hidden in photo frames.
According to an NCB official, at least four people have also been arrested during the operations. He further said some international drug cartels have also been identified as a result of the arrests, and 19 kilogrammes of ganja, 1.15 kg of hydroponic marijuana, 13,500 Nitrazepam tablets, and 3,840 Tramadol tablets were among the drugs that were seized.
According to reports, the NCB got a tip-off that a global drug trafficking organisation was planning to use courier parcels to transport high-grade Bud, also known as hydroponic cannabis, to Doha in Qatar.
Earlier on November 14, details of the parcel, which was on the verge of an international shipment upload, were gathered and it was immediately held back for inspection.
High-quality hydroponic weed was hidden in photo frames
The package contained 10 photo frames with religious scriptures, but upon closer inspection, 1.15 kg of high-quality hydroponic weed was discovered hidden inside the frames, according to the official. The NCB had also been informed that there would soon be an interstate trafficking of nitrazepam tablets.
On Tuesday, the NCB mounted surveillance and nabbed a key associate of the syndicate with a parcel containing the tablets and its receiver, who was to distribute them in Mumbai, the official said.
The two arrested accused, hailing from Mumbai, were in contact with many traffickers in other states also, he said. The NCB also got to know about an international syndicate planning to carry out the illicit trafficking of Tramadol tablets through a courier parcel from Mumbai to the US.
Based on this information, the NCB sleuths went to the courier office here last week and found a parcel box in which the Tramadol tablets were concealed, and it was "mis-declared as a legit item", the official said.
NCB got inputs about interstate ganja trafficking syndicate
The NCB had also received inputs about an interstate ganja trafficking syndicate conspiring to transport a consignment from Dhule to Mumbai.
This led to the identification of "two carriers" and their bus route, the official said. As the two persons alighted from a bus here last Friday, the NCB sleuths nabbed them and recovered 19 kg of high-quality ganja from them, the official said.
The contraband was sourced from the Andhra Pradesh-Odisha region, he said. All the arrested persons are seasoned traffickers and into the illicit drug business for the past five to seven years, he remarked.
These back-to-back operations by the NCB-Mumbai has tactically snapped a supply chain wherein the international, as well as the inter-state syndicates, were trying to enhance drug trafficking in the region, the official added.
(With inputs from PTI)
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