Anti-Narcotics cell prepares list to crackdown on peddlers

Mumbai: With instances of the banned cannabis’s seizures on the rise in Mumbai, Mumbai police’s Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) has prepared a crackdown list of 15 local distributors, who are active in peddling banned drugs. This year, so far, the ANC has seized 41.87 kg of charas that are worth Rs 1.59 crore in the grey market, while last year only 4.12 kg (worth Rs 4.9 lakh) of the banned contraband was seized   

The ANC officials said that Cannabis, locally known as Charas, is mainly grown in poppy fields on the hills of border districts of Baramulla and Anantnag and then transported to metro cities including Mumbai under cover. There are at least three different groups of smugglers who peddle drugs into Mumbai.

Two types of Cannabis make it to the Indian market, Himachal Pradesh’s ‘rabdi’ or ‘Manali cream’ and a harder and most sought after form, which comes from Jammu and Kashmir. Officials said that cannabis from J&K is peddled and consumed more in Mumbai than ‘rabdi’ owing to difference in its taste. The latter is more popular in New Delhi.

Shivdeep Lande, deputy commissioner of police (ANC), who is spearheading the crackdown on Cannabis, said, “The crop is harvested between August and September and smuggled to market later. The Cannabis consumption here goes hand in hand with the hukka joints.”

The officials said that the carrier doesn’t carry the narcotics with himself and he either takes a train or a flight to Mumbai before the drugs begin their journey. Investigators said that post mid 90s, the smuggling of larger quantities, ranging in several kilograms, began.

“Most popular modus of transporting the drugs is in the apple trucks or in the cavities of other vehicles, but by road. The drugs are collected by the carrier in Mumbai and later distributed to the distributors for supplying to the consumers,” added Lande.