Mounting its crackdown on the drug peddlers in and around the metropolis, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials on Wednesday seized 2.04 kg of Charas (weed) and arrested two peddlers from the neighbouring Palghar district.
Identifying the arrested alleged drug peddlers as Avinash Arun Singh (24) Shravan L. Gupta (38), the NCB officials said that both Avinash and Gupta were residents of Nalasopara in Palghar district.
Acting on a tip-off, a Mumbai Zonal NCB team apprehended Avinash and found the narcotics hidden in a backpack on his person. Immediately afterwards, the team arrested Gupta near his Nalasopara residence.
Gupta had been in touch with Avinash earlier for delivery of a bag containing Charas received from an alleged supplier Baliram alias Balli, a resident of Bhayander (east) in Thane district.
The NCB officials said that the seized contraband was found in eight taped packets sewn in cloth bags. The bags were concealed in Avinash’s backpack.
The NCB officials are investigating the antecedents of the arrested accused, the source and destination of the seized drugs and the supply chain involved.
Wednesday’s operation involving the drug seizure and arrest of two alleged peddlers was independent of the ongoing investigations into the much-discussed drug case related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.