Narcotics bureau to seek Saji’s custody

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) will seek custody of its disgraced former deputy director Saji Mohan who was arrested on January 24 for drug trafficking and is at present being interrogated by the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS).

Om Prakash, additional director general, NCB, said a case has been registered against Mohan at a Chandigarh police station on charges of stealing government funds and property.

He said Mohan, along with two officers of the Jammu and Kashmir police and a superintendent named Balwinder Singh, removed heroin from the NCB strong room and sold them in the open market. Singh cracked up under interrogation and said he was forced to commit the crime by his boss Mohan.

Prakash said the seized heroin was part of a stock handed over to the NCB by the Border Security Force (BSF). “The BSF recovers abandoned drugs along the Indo-Pak border and deposits them with the local police or the NCB,” Prakash said. “We have completed our stock checking and informed the ATS about the missing drug quantities. Once the ATS completes its probe, we will take custody of all the accused and make our own inquiries.”