Middleman held over Rs 2,000 drugs bust

The Thane police on Monday arrested one of the kingpins in the Rs 2,000 crore Ephedrine seizure case.

The accused, identified as Jay Mukhi, was arrested from Uttar Pradesh after the Thane police got a tip-off. He will soon be brought to Thane for further investigation.

The Thane police had, on April 16, in collaboration with the narcotics department of the Thane crime branch, seized a huge haul of drugs worth Rs 2,000 crore from the outskirts of Thane. Till now 14 accused have been arrested over this case. The police said the arrest of Mukhi, a middleman, would aid investigation.

A police official said, “Jay Mukhi was the one who was involved in sending ephedrine to Gujarat. When we checked his call details and other bank transactions, we came to know that he has gone to Kenya and Dubai two to three times in the past three years. He was in touch with Vicky Goswami, a main drug dealer who is wanted in the case.”

According to officials, Mukhi’s work was to transfer raw material outside Maharashtra as well as out of India. The police learned about him after they arrested Punit Shringi (43), who is involved in the handling of Mesars Benzocame of Life Science Company; Manoj Jain (46), who is the director of this company, and Hardipsingh Gill (42), who used to help the duo transfer the product from one place to another. The trio was arrested in the last week of April.