Maharashtra: Man from Bihar arrested with drugs worth over Rs 2 crore in Pune

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In a major crackdown, the Pune police arrested a 32-year-old man from Bihar with 2.38 kg of drugs worth over Rs 2 crore from Pimpri Chinchwad in Pune district, reported news agency ANI.

The arrested man from Bihar has been identified as 32-year-old Namami Shankar Zha, who hails from Bihar state, reported ANI.

"The city police, now Pimpri-Chinchwad police, swung into action and seized 2.38 kg of MD drugs worth Rs 2,02,00,000 and arrested the accused from the Pimple Nilakh area of Pimpri Chinchwad in Pune district on Friday," said an official, reported ANI.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Shivaji Pawar, "The arrest of the accused took place after his suspicious movement with a white carry bag was noticed by on-duty assistant police inspector Narayan Patil of Sangvi police station in the local area during night patroling," reported ANI.

DCP further informed that during the search of the suspect, police found 2.38 kg of MD drugs with a market value of around 2.20 crore and a mobile phone in his possession, reported ANI.

After the arrest, a case was registered at the Sangvi police station under sections 8 (c), 21 (c), and 22 (c) of the NDPS Act.

Subsequently, the accused was produced in court on Friday and remanded to police custody for seven days by the district magistrate court in Pune.

In another case, days after the police busted a counterfeit currency racket at Pimpri Chinchwad near Pune and arrested six persons, it has come to light that the accused had procured the paper for printing fake notes and other raw material from a Chinese e-commerce portal, an official said, reported PTI.

The police have so far seized more than 400 counterfeit notes of Rs 500 denomination from the accused, who used to print the currency notes.

The racket was unearthed on February 25 after the police apprehended a person named Hrutik Khadse and seized from him 140 notes of Rs 500 denomination. During the probe, they found that the notes were fake, reported PTI.

"During the interrogation, the accused revealed that they printed the fake currency notes at Dighi (in Pimpri Chinchwad). When the premises were raided, it was found that five more people were involved in the printing of counterfeit currency and seized 300 notes of Rs 500 denomination," a Pimpri Chinchwad police official said, reported PTI.

A printer, a laptop, Indian currency paper, ink, paper cutting machine and other things were also seized from the site, he said.

"So far, we have seized 440 notes of Rs 500 denomination, 4,684 partially printed notes, and 1,000 sheets of Indian currency papers from the accused," he added, reported PTI.

"During the investigation, it was found that one of the accused had opened an account on a Chinese e-commerce website and ordered the currency paper for printing the notes from that country," he said, reported PTI.

All the accused are currently in police custody and further investigation into the case is on, the official said.

(With inputs from PTI and ANI)