Drugs worth over Rs 13 cr seized in Thane
Police in Maharashtra’s Thane city have seized more than 4 kg of heroin worth over Rs 13 crore and arrested three persons in connection with the drug during a special operation, officials said.
One of the arrested accused allegedly had links with Mumbai’s underworld, and his name had also cropped up during the probe into the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, a senior official said.
In a crackdown in the early hours of February 3, a crime branch team seized heroin, a highly addictive drug, valued at Rs 6.9 crore, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Amarsingh Jadhav on Friday evening. Police nabbed 47-year-old Wajahat Sayeed near a school in the Diva area with the contraband. His interrogation led to the arrest of his associate, Mohammad Mahadik (67), identified by investigators as the primary supplier.
Police said Mahadik was an accused who fled India shortly after the 1993 blasts. After absconding for nearly 22 years, during which he worked in Muscat and Oman under a fake identity, he slipped back into the country, DCP Jadhav said.
He was a well-connected figure in the 1990s underworld, police said. “Mahadik has a long criminal history... And he had good relations with all the gangs then, including Dawood Ibrahim and others,” an official said. His prior criminal record includes murder, kidnapping, extortion, and a previous arrest for using a fraudulent passport.
In another haul, a crime branch team intercepted a 50-year-old autorickshaw driver, identified as Fardin Gulzar Mulla, in the Ghodbunder area on February 1 and seized heroin valued at more than Rs 6.68 crore. More than 4 kg of heroin, worth over Rs 13 crore, has been collectively seized in both cases, police said.
A probe is underway to ascertain the source of the drug and the intended customers, as well as to identify other members of the drug supply network, said DCP Jadhav. He added that cases have been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in connection with the seizures.
