Mumbai: The Mumbai Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) unit has seized 4.88 kg of charas concealed in a special cavity made inside a water purifier, which was to be sent to Australia through a courier service, and arrested two people in this connection, said an NCB official on Sunday.
The value of the seized contraband was not revealed by the agency. Based on specific information, they seized the drug and busted a nexus of courier franchise owners, courier agents, and consignors. Two persons were arrested on Saturday evening. The arrested accused identified as Bhuval Yadav, a resident of Nalasopara is a consignor while Shrikant Pingle is a courier owner. Pingle runs his courier franchise from Andheri. Both were produced in the court and remanded in police custody till June 15.
“The gang has been operating for several months and was financed by a Canada-based businessman. The charas is of very high quality. We are questioning the accused to ascertain from which part of India the drug was being smuggled to Mumbai and who is the next chain supplying the contraband?,” said an NCB official.
The officials learnt that the courier franchise owner used a mainstream courier company, which is sending the parcel to Australia. He also insisted on not scanning the consignment while booking the parcel abroad. Officials are also suspicious of the persons based in Australia, whether they actually wanted to import the water purifiers from India or to help supply drugs by hiding the contraband.
After the seizure, the team nabbed the agent and courier executive and during interrogation, it was found that the courier franchise owner was also involved in drug trafficking, said zonal director Amit Ghawate of the NCB.
The courier agent sends parcels without verification of the identity of the consignor and also sends parcels several times on the instructions of the main receiver. A fake identity was used by the consignor to ship the parcel through a courier. This network has sent several such parcels in the past. The kingpin had created layers in the delivery network, added Ghawate.