Mumbai crime news: "High-quality Kashmiri charas" seized from Byculla, three arrested

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Mumbai police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) on Friday seized charas worth Rs 1.04 crore and arrested three persons including a resident of Jammu and Kashmir, an official said.

The accused were part of an inter-state drug trafficking racket, newswire PTI reported quoting the official.

The Bandra unit of the ANC, in a special operation, apprehended two persons in Byculla area and seized 1.8 kg of high-quality Kashmiri charas, the crime branch official said.

Their interrogation led to the arrest another man, from whose possession another 800 grams of Kashmiri charas was seized, the PTI reported.

The accused who hails from Kashmir had brought the drug to Mumbai by concealing it in walnut bags, the official said.

Another accused has two cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act registered against him. As much as 55 kg of charas had been seized from his possession in Worli area in the past, the official said.

In another operation, the Azad Maidan unit of the ANC seized 120 grams of mephedrone worth Rs 24 lakh and arrested three person, he said, adding that Rs 22 lakh in cash was also recovered from them.

Meanwhile, in another news, police in Maharashtra's Thane city arrested two persons after recovering ambergris or whale vomit worth about Rs 3 crore from them, an official said on Friday.

Senior inspector Kirankumar Kabadi of Wagle Estate police station said they had received inputs that two persons would be arriving near a hotel in their jurisdiction to sell some smuggled goods.

The police intercepted two men after they reached the place carrying a sack. A search revealed that the duo from neighbouring coastal Raigad district was carrying ambergris worth nearly Rs 3 crore.

The police have registered a case against the two under the Indian Penal Code and the Wild Life (Protection) Act, he added.

Ambergris, created by the bile duct of the sperm whale, is often called "floating gold" due to the immense price it fetches in the international markets for its use in luxury perfumes.

The sperm whale is protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and it is illegal to sell, transfer, possess or trade in ambergris in India. (With inputs from PTI)