Mumbai: 110kg seized ganja may have naxal links

Mumbai: A Mumbai police probe has indicated that the consignment of 110 kg cannabis that was recovered from five persons in the city on Monday could have been sourced from a supplier producing it in one of the naxal-affected areas of Telangana. The cannabis that came to Mumbai had been supplied by an unidentified supplier based in Telangana, who is suspected of catering to demands of the banned narcotic in Mumbai and other metro cities via a network of distributors.

The seized consignment was procured from the supplier by a Patna-based distributor, known only by his assumed names ‘Gupta’ and ‘Rai’, a police source said. Gupta used an SUV — Mahindra Bolero — carrying four couriers to transport it to a Mumbai –based peddler, Qamar Ahmed, the source said. Ahmed and the four couriers were nabbed by the Mumbai police’s Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) on Monday, which seized the 110 kg of ganja from them.  The Mumbai police is likely to take steps to nab the cannabis supplier and Gupta and may send teams to Telangana and Bihar, said sources. The seized cannabis, worth Rs 22 lakh, was of “high quality”.

The contraband was brought to Mumbai in an SUV that left with five persons — a couple and their minor daughter and two drivers — from Patna and came via Jharkhand, Orissa and Telangana. The consignment was being handed over to Ahmed when the ANC nabbed them near the Mankhurd toll naka.

“We suspect the ganja was sent to Mumbai from a supplier who operates from one of the naxal-affected districts in Telangana. The Bolero that came to Mumbai on Monday got the 110 kg of ganja at a spot inside Telangana,” said a police source.      

The racket’s Patna-based distributor, Gupta, operates behind a cloak of secrecy, said sources. Gupta is not known to the Bihar police but efforts are on to track him down, said sources.

When contacted, ANC’s deputy commissioner of police Shivdeep Lande told The Asian Age, “Efforts are being made to bust the network supplying ganja to Mumbai.”