Mumbai Crime: NCB swoops in on city's drug peddlers

Gaurav Dixit and Kingsley Ukwueza

The Mumbai Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested eight people, including TV actor Gaurav Dixit, during a series of operations in and around Mumbai over the last two days. The NCB also recovered a huge quantity of Mephedrone (MD) drugs.

On Saturday, officials also raided the house of an ex-Bollywood actor and recovered some amount of contraband from him. The actor is currently being questioned at the NCB Mumbai office.

The NCB's operation has been named Rolling Thunder. "This drive is part of an ongoing effort to clean Mumbai city of the drug menace," said NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede.

Dixit had been absconding since April 3, when officials had raided his house in Andheri and recovered intermediate quantity of MD, a small quantity of charas and some tablets of MDMA/ecstasy. He has now been remanded to NCB custody till Monday.

The other accused, identified as Abusufiyan Khan, is a repeat offender, who was also absconding. Khan is a peddler and consumer of MD and is active in the Jogeshwari area.

In another operation, a team of the NCB Mumbai seized a total of 57.3 gm of MD, along with a small quantity of charas and ganja from Vasai and Nalasopara East. Two people, Rafiq Mohammed Ali Shaikh and Nigerian national Jonhcen Maka, were arrested in this case.

The NCB also seized 52 gm of MD from Goregoan West and arrested accused Irfan Ikramuddin Khan. In Navi Mumbai, officials arrested Nigerian national Kingsley Ukwueza, seizing 55 gm of MD from him.

Another major drug supplier Riyaaz Iqbal Tandel, was picked up from Mira Road. The NCB confiscated 65 gm of MD from Tandel. At the time of going to press, raids were still on, and officers say more arrests are likely.