14 February,2024 08:48 PM IST | Thane | mid-day online correspondent
Representational Pic/File
The Thane Police in Maharashtra seized banned gutkha and tobacco products with an estimated value of Rs 2.95 crore from three trucks in Thane district and arrested three men, a senior officer said on Wednesday, reported the PTI.
"A crime branch team of Thane rural police found the packets of banned gutkha and other tobacco products hidden inside three container trucks parked near a hotel along the Mumbai-Nashik national highway in the early hours of February 11," said Superintendent of Police, Thane Rural, DS Swami, as per the PTI.
He said the estimated value of the seized gutkha and tobacco products is Rs 2.95 crore and that of container trucks is Rs 60 lakh.
Police arrested Tahir Sitab Khan (41), Mohammad Tarif Habib Khan (24), and Jahul Yasin Haqque (37), all residents of Rajasthan, under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006, and FDA regulations.
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Meanwhile, in an another incident, last week, a man was arrested in Thane district of Maharashtra allegedly with ganja, charas and hashish worth Rs 31.45 lakh. He allegedly took took drug supply orders through social media, a police official had earlier said, reported the PTI.
According to the PTI, the suspect who was identified as Rushabh Sanjay Bhalerao (28) allegedly took drug supply orders on Instagram and couriered the contraband home, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shivajirao Patil said.
"A Crime Branch Unit V team led by Senior Inspector Vikas Ghodke nabbed him from Indira Nagar in Wage Estate area in Maharashtra's Thane district on a tip off on Wednesday. We seized 3.2 kilograms of ganja worth Rs 30,200 from him at the time," the DCP said, as per the PTI.
"A search of his house yielded 60.5 kilograms of ganja, 290 grams of charas and 19 small bottles with hashish oil cumulatively valued at Rs 31 lakh. It was the first time hash was seized by Thane police," the official added, the news agency reported.
Rushabh Bhalerao was remanded in police custody till February 12 and probe was underway to unravel the peddling network, the DCP said.
(with PTI inputs)
