Major drug racket worth Rs 3 crore bust by Amboli cops on New Year's Eve

As the city was gearing up to celebrate the new year with a bang, the Amboli police busted a major drug racket. Working on a tip-off, the cops were able to seize a total of 20 kilogramme of Ephedrine drug worth Rs 3.04 crore.

According to police, the drug was brought to the city from Hyderabad through Vasai to supply it to revelers demanding it for their new year parties.

As per police reports, on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, the Amboli police team received a tip-off regarding the arrival to two men to sell ephedrine. "Based on the information received, police arrested two men identified as Mohammed Gulamhussain (45) and Dayanand Mudannar (32) and seized drugs wrapped in packets. Preliminary interrogation revealed that Gulamhussain hails from Hyderabad while Mudannar is from Vasai. The duo are business partners and had manage to arrange the drugs to supply it on New Year Eve. Also, they had earlier been arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Hyderabad in 2013, when 200 kg of Ephedrine was seized from them and they were booked under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act," said Manoj Sharma, Additional Commissioner of Police, western region.

"As of now, we are yet to establish who the duo were going to supply the drugs to, but they have confessed that they were to meet a middleman who would further transfer the drugs to other buyers. Epehdrine is commonly abused at parties and is usually consumed by sniffing or mixing it with aerated drinks or hard drinks," added Sharma.