Maharashtra: 22-year-old man held with mephedrone worth Rs 7.5 lakh

A 22yearold man was held by the Navi Mumbai Police in Maharashtra for alleged possession of mephedrone worth 75 lakh an official said on Tuesday the PTI reportedAccording to the PTI acting on a tipoff a team from the antinarcotics cell ANC intercepted the accused near the APMC market in Vashi around 1 am the official saidHussain Abbas Saddhu Mirza a resident of Jogeshwari in neighbouring Mumbai allegedly had 75 gm of mephedrone worth Rs 75 lakh on his person he said as per the PTIThe accused has been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances NDPS Act the official saidThe police are investigating to find out from where the contraband had been sourced and the intended customers he saidMeanwhile in an another incident Pune Police have seized more than 600kg of synthetic stimulant drug mephedrone estimated to be worth Rs 1100 crore in Pune district and arrested three persons said the city police commissioner on Tuesday according to the PTIThe three persons arrested in connection with the biggestever drug seizure in Pune district were booked under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act NDPS Act police saidOn Sunday three persons were arrested and around 175 kg of mephedrone also known as MD worth Rs 385 crore was recovered from them During investigation we traced two godowns where another 55 kg of MD was found Following interrogation of the trio and based on inputs received from them another operation was carried out in the Kurkumbh MIDC area and approximately 550kg of MD was recovered from a unit there said Pune Police commissioner Amitesh Kumar as per the PTIHe said as of now the police have recovered more than 600 kg of mephedrone which is approximately worth Rs 1100 croreInvestigations are going on a war footing Upward and downward linkages are being probed and our teams are working in close coordination with other agencies the IPS officer saidAsked about antecedents of the arrested accused Kumar said they were primarily acting as courier boys and had some offences registered against themThe police commissioner declined to divulge further details saying probe was still at the preliminary stageAsked if drug racketeer Lalit Patil was anyway related to the narcotics haul he said as of now no link has come to lightLast year Patil emerged as the kingpin of a drug racket that was busted by the police in Mumbai in a twomonthlong operation which included seizure of mephedrone worth about Rs 300 crore and a raid at a drug manufacturing unit in Nashik Patil had escaped from a government hospital in Pune but was later arrestedMephedrone also known as meow meow is a synthetic stimulant and psychotropic substance banned under the NDPS Actwith PTI inputs