ANC officials suspect role of a bigger syndicate

The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) unit of the Mumbai police is suspecting the involvement of a bigger syndicate behind the drug peddling gang, which the agency busted on Wednesday. A large quantity of synthetic drug Fentanyl was seized.

The ANC sleuths swooped on a car and a scooter parked at Shastri Nagar in Vile Parle. Four accused, identified as Salim Dhola (52), Chandramani Tiwari (41), Sandeep Tiwari (38) and Ghanshyam Saroj (43) were arrested. Around 100 kilograms of Fentanyl worth Rs 1,000 crores enclosed in containers were seized.

According to the police, the drug consignment was to be taken by air cargo to Mexico from Mumbai international airport. Preliminary investigation has revealed that the drug may have been manufactured in pharmaceutical units located in areas like Palghar, Vapi, south Gujarat areas and other places situated at the Maharashtra-Gujarat border.

The accused have revealed that the consignment was received from Gujarat. It was then taken to a warehouse in Bhiwandi and from there it was brought to Mumbai. It was to be sent to Mexico before new year celebrations.

“After December 31, the drug has no monetary value and the peddlers tend to smuggle it anyhow before time to earn a hefty commission. The local and international peddlers usually take advantage of the heavy addiction problem of the locals. We have sent out police teams to Bhiwandi, Gujarat, local offices in Mumbai and other concerned agencies to carry out further investigation of the case. The entire drugs haul was planned very smartly as the drug containers had no labels so even the immigration and the customs officials could not sense anything suspicious,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police, anti-narcotics, Shivdeep Lande.

According to the police, the drug, which is also an opioid drug, and an anesthetic is 50 times more powerful than heroin and the low-cost manufacturing of the drug could make it sell up to Rs 1 lakh for a gram in the United States and Europe.

“The drug is so powerful by nature that a mere 25 gm is lethal enough. It is considered to be a party drug in the US and around 6,000 deaths have been reported due to overdose. About 80% of the drug enters the US via Mexico and 20 per cent enters via Canada. As of now, no money has been recovered. The usage of a darknet is evident from the entire smuggling case and we also suspect that the money trail is being conducted by the hawala system. We are also in talks with the Mexican authorities in this regards. The accused men are trying to divert the police investigation but further investigation of matter will reveal more facts,” added Lande.