Mumbai: Residents bust drug racket in Kurla society

Alert citizens of Kurla-based Kapadia Nagar housing society busted a drug racket that was being run out of a chemist shop in their premises.

On Thursday night, they caught a taxi driver buying anti-depression pills, Tranax-1, manufactured by Cipla, red-handed, without prescription or a valid bill from Society Chemist.

"The driver confessed to being a serial addict and said that he used to buy it four times a week from the shop," said Ashfaque Ahmad (42), a society resident. Owners of the shop, Shakir and Shahid Retiwala, were arrested by the police.

Residents have long suspected them. The duo's shady drug deals included selling prescription-based medicines containing addictive substances without prescription or bills. The police also seized 75 portable Chinese-made dry powder fire extinguishers from outside the ground floor apartment of the Retiwala brothers.

"We suspect that the raw materials from fire extinguishers were being used for making Mephedrone (M-cat)," said Yousuf Khan, a lawyer and a resident of the society.

M-Cat was banned recently under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act by the central government.

For many weeks now, these fire extinguishers have been posing a problem to residents. "There was a pungent smell. Also, the apartment was frequented by youngsters between 12 pm and 3 am for allegedly buying drugs. They often rang doorbells of neighbouring apartments mistakenly and were a nuisance," said Harshvardhan Gautam, who stays in Nalanda Apartments, from where the fire extinguishers were seized.

Kapadia Nagar society comprises 24 buildings and close to 750 families reside there. It also houses 20 shops, including Society Chemist. Residents said that at least 2-4 youngsters, including children aged as young as 12, were addicted to Codeine Phosphate-based cough syrups and Alprazolam-based anti-depression pills.

"The chemists always used to stock the illegal medicines in their apartments and sold the drugs to residents of the society as well as outsiders," said GP Khan, a resident.

Last week, Ashfaque was out on an evening stroll when he caught three men in their 20s teasing a young girl outside the society gates.

"They were high on drugs and were teasing the girl. I intervened and rescued her. Later, we got the boys arrested. Often, people from outside are seen hanging around and exchanging pouches of drugs. That's when we decided to watch the activities in and around the chemist shop," said Ahmad.

For two days and two nights, a group of up to eight residents did not sleep. "We watched all activities around the chemist shop and caught the owner doing drug dealing red-handed," said Gautam.

On Thursday night, they caught the taxi driver and the chemists and called up the police. The police broke into sixth-floor flat of Shama Apartments and seized 500 bottles of Codeine Phosphate-based cough syrups, Rescon and Rescof, manufactured by Ranbaxy and Cipla.

Hundreds of Spasmocip tablet strips, an analgesic and an addictive drug, which were banned by the central government in May 2013, were recovered. Around 1,000 strips of addictive sleeping pills, Alprazolam-based Tranax-1, too, were stocked in the flat.

"In all, prescription-based drugs worth Rs 50,000 were found inside the apartment," said FDA drug inspector PD Yasatwar, Zone V.

On two instances, in the last four years, youngsters in the society had died due to an overdose of drugs. Twenty six-year-old Shamshullah Khan, who stayed in room number 501 of Shama Apartments, was addicted to Alprazolam. "He was very high on drugs the day he died. He wanted to enter his house but did not have the keys. He climbed the terrace and descended onto the parapet of the fifth floor from where he fell with a thud to the ground after losing balance," said Asham Mohammad, the deceased's neighbour.

In another case, Ashfaque's nephew, Kamal Hassan (19), died within 24 hours of consuming an overdose of Spasmocip last year. "He came home shivering that day. His eyes were red. We took him to KEM hospital where he died of kidney failure due to drug overdose and poisoning. Later, we found 13 strips of Spasmocip in his motorbike compartment," said Ashfaque.

Yasatwar said that the Retiwala brothers were habitual offenders. "Their licences were cancelled on two occasions earlier, but they managed to obtain a stay order from the Food and Drugs Administration department. This time around, we have seized the banned drug Spasmocip from their apartment and will make a stronger case. We will make sure no stay is granted and their operations are shut down permanently," said Yasatwar.

The two used to bring prescription-based medicines from Rajasthan and Gujarat through hawala channels and stocked with chemists, said FDA officials. The accused have been booked under Drugs and Cosmetics Act, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and various sections of IPC in non-bailable offences for stocking and selling banned drugs.