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ShareOfficials from the Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police arrested six people and seized 1,240kg of marijuana in two days. The contraband is worth around Rs2.4 crore in the international market. This is one of the biggest seizures made by the ANC this year.
According to the ANC officials, a woman -- a bar dancer-turned-drug kingpin -- brought the contraband into the city. Shahida Shaikh, alias Simran, 34, got into the narcotics trade about three months ago.
"Simran is a native of Hyderabad and has worked in two to three bars as a waitress and a dancer in the city. She was in a relationship with a man named Shripad, who was into narcotics trade," said Rakesh Maria, joint commissioner of police, crime.
"Shripad left her and married another woman six months ago. Simran then started contacting people whom Shripad regularly dealt with, to get into this trade."
The ANC officials had received a tip-off that a large contraband of a narcotic was entering the city. A trap was laid at the Vashi check naka on Sunday afternoon. By 11.30 pm, the officials saw a few people roaming around in a suspicious manner, amongst whom, one was Simran.
At that same time, an informer called up the officials to say that a truck with registration number CG 4G 8300, carrying the drug, was reaching the spot. The truck was intercepted by the police and Simran and three others were arrested from the spot.
"On checking the truck, we found that there was a cavity created behind the driver's cabin in the carrier. We found 142 bales, each containing 5kg marijuana," said Sunil Paraskar, deputy commissioner of police, ANC.
The accused later revealed that the truck was headed to a godown at Bohisar, where the drugs were to be hidden for a few days. It was to be delivered to other parts of the city in small quantities.
During interrogation, Simran revealed that another huge contraband of 1,800kg of marijuana had reached the city last month. The ANC officials raided Bohisar godown and seized 530kg of the drug on Monday.
The others arrested include the truck driver Balwinder Singh, 45, truck owner Gurmail Hansraj, 62 -- an ex-Chattisgarh government employee -- and Simran's associates -- Sajid Jacqueline Rose, Rinku Singh and Viju Nadar, who were waiting with her at the spot.
All six suspectshave been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. They have been remanded to police custody till November 8.
