Mumbai: The stock of 500kg of marijuana (ganja) worth Rs 1 crore, which was seized recently in Vikhroli, had allegedly been sourced from suppliers in Telangana’s Naxal affected corridor and the Jagdalpur-Ganjam belt and was meant for further distribution to Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, apart from Mumbai, said sources from the
Mumbai police’s anti-narcotics cell. The probe suspects that the stretch between Nashik and Jalgaon is being used by the drug syndicate, which had sent the narcotic to Mumbai for its distributors in the state to receive the consignment for distribution to other states, said sources. The ANC, which is led by DCP Shivdeep Lande, suspects there are several distributors in the state who are working for the syndicate and collect the marijuana stock in Nashik-Jalgaon.
The police has sent a team to nab a key marijuana distributor working for the syndicate to Nashik and Jalgaon. “The distributor can give details about the syndicate that controls the ganja production and its inter-state supply and identify its top operatives,” said a source.
Sources said the syndicate may again try to send its ganja (dried buds, leaves and stems of the cannabis plant) stock to the state in the next few weeks as the cannabis gets harvested in January and so it must be flush with the yield. Ganja is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant intended for recreational use. The syndicate, whose 500kg stock was seized, allegedly uses the road route to send its consignments, hiding the narcotics in a manner that raises no suspicion. For instance, it uses couriers posing as students with rucksacks.
The 500-kg consignment came hidden beneath rotten onions, said a source. The ANC had arrested three persons from Vikhroli along with a Bolero SUV that was being used to smuggle the contraband from Nashik. The police had arrested Sanjay Mohite, Nandlal Beldar and Kalu Mohite. The accused were apprehended after the Azad Maidan unit of ANC received a tip-off about the drugs being brought to Mumbai.
