3 held from LTT with 12 kg hashish worth Rs 42 lakh

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Wednesday seized 12 kg of hashish, an extract of the cannabis plant, at Kurla’s Lokmanya Tilak Terminus from three people who had arrived in a train from Uttar Pradesh. NCB officials suspect that the contraband, which is worth Rs 42 lakh in the grey market, was meant for being sold to specific clients during celebrations next month to ring in the new year.

The hashish was to be delivered to an Andheri-based drug dealer, who is absconding, said an NCB source. After seizing the contraband and arresting the two alleged peddlers, Rajkaran Varma and Shivprasad Varma, the NCB is gathering clues to crack down upon the drug trafficking syndicate to which the Andheri-based drug dealer and the two peddlers belong. Based on the interrogation of the two couriers, the NCB also arrested their alleged Mumbai-based accomplice — Mohammed Shabir Ali — who is a peddler as well, said an agency source. While Rajkaran and Shivprasad are residents of Uttar Pradesh, Ali stays in Nallasopara, a Thane (rural) suburb.

The drug dealer had allegedly ordered the substance from Jammu. “We are conducting investigations to trace him. Once he is arrested, we will get to know who he was supplying the drugs to,” said an officer. “The drugs had been sourced by the Andheri-based dealer to be supplied to his clientele for New Year’s Eve parties in Mumbai. We are also gathering details on who the proposed buyers of the consignment were,” said the source.

An officer added, “The hashish was packed in packets off 10 gm each, each of which costs Rs 3,500.”

Kumar Sanjay Jha, zonal director, NCB, said: “Each peddler who carried the hashish to Mumbai was paid Rs 10,000 per consignment. In addition to this, they were also provided food and accommodation.”

The source added that the peddler “would travel to other states to collect the consignment and return to UP and pack the drugs there in layers of clothes and other household items”.