NCB busts supply chain of J&K drug syndicate with arrest of 3 middlemen

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has busted the supply network of a drug syndicate operating between Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and Maharashtra with the arrest of three people. The trio worked as a franchise of a J&K-based drug dealer in Maharashtra and would supply drugs to retailers. The NCB claimed that with these arrests, a huge network of drug traffickers from J&K has suffered a setback.

The arrested Nawab Mehboob Khan (55) was the main person who was working as a franchise of supplying contraband in and around Mumbai and had sub-dealers Ghulam Hussain Sheikh alias Chawla (48), a driver, and Prabhat Saxena (40). All of them got their instructions from J&K. The trio was arrested on Saturday from Kalyan and is currently in NCB's custody.

A senior NCB officer said, "The kingpin of the syndicate operates from J&K and is in touch with two to three gangs in and around Mumbai that supply contraband to the retailers. No gang knows about the other's involvement. The level of secrecy maintained was so high that nobody knew the main supplier in J&K."

"When Mumbai gangs would make the demand from the J&K kingpin, they would get the contraband. The suppliers would then get it to the retailers through their couriers. When meetings took place, neither the courier, nor the retailers would exchange names or any other details to maintain secrecy. For every meeting, there would be a new courier," the officer explained.

In this case, the operator from J&K had sent a huge commercial quantity consignment through his courier to Delhi. A truck driver had then transported it to Jaipur, and from there it was smuggled to Mumbai via bus.