Mumbai Police raids more shops in city, e-cigarettes worth Rs 1.48 lakh seized from Chembur

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In a major crackdown on the sale of banned e-cigarettes in the city, the Mumbai Police in another raid at multiple shops in Chembur seized e-cigarettes worth over Rs. 1.48 lakh, the police said.

The Mumbai Police, its crime branch and other units of the city police have been extensively conducting raids in the city.

According to the police, on February 16, the officials of Unit 7 of the Mumbai Crime Branch raided two shops selling the banned e-cigarettes in the area and arrested three people in the matter.

"Police constable Ajay Ballad had received credible information on the sale of banned e-cigarettes in the area. After working out on the information, a team of Unit 7 raided two shops and seized e-cigarettes worth over Rs 1.48 lakhs and nabbed three suspects aged- 25, 21 and 36-year-old respectively," an official said.

Meanwhile, The police on Thursday had said that the Unit-10 of the Mumbai Crime Branch raided shops in Andheri and Powai areas in Mumbai and seized over Rs 47,000 worth of e-cigarettes. Following the raid, two people- aged 40 and 43-year-old were arrested for the sale of banned e-cigarettes.

Also Read: Mumbai Police raids shops in Juhu, e-cigarettes worth lakhs seized; two held

Earlier, the Anti-Narcotics Cell, on Tuesday night had carried out six major operations and arrested 10 people, including the owner of Mumbai's iconic Muchhad Panwala, Shivkumar Tiwari, for allegedly selling e-cigarettes.

The Mumbai Police on Tuesday had also raided a shop in Juhu after receiving a tip-off on sale of huge quantities of e-cigarettes, the police said.

According to the police, the officials from the enforcement branch of Mumbai Police had received information regarding the sale of e-cigarettes in some shops in the Juhu area. The shops were allegedly located close to schools. As many as two shops located on the Juhu Tara Road in Juhu were raided by the police and seized e-cigarettes worth over Rs 4,45,900 and foreign cigarettes worth around Rs 96,258. The total seizure amounted to over Rs 5,41,798.

On February 9, the police had said that it had raided a shop in Crawford Market area of south Mumbai. The police had then said that during the raid, the police officials seized e-cigarettes and tobacco worth around Rs. 2.37 lakh including e-cigarettes worth over Rs. 2.24 lakh and flavored tobacco worth Rs. 12,000.