Mira-Bhayandar: In an extensive 45-day long operation, the crime branch unit (Zone 1) attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police busted the entire chain of a well-oiled inter-state drug syndicate suspected to have its links with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. While a total of 15 people have been arrested from four states including Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, mephedrone (MD) drug, raw material and manufacturing apparatus worth more than Rs. 327 crore was seized in the entire operation.
This is said to be one of the biggest ever drug bust by the police in the state. According to the sequence of events revealed by the police commissioner- Madhukar Pandey, the operation started with the arrest of two peddlers identified as-Shoaib Hanif Memon and Nicholas Leofred Titus-both residents of Vasai who were found to be in possession of 1000 grams of MD worth Rs. 2 crore during nakabandi at Chene village on the Ghodbunder Road on May, 15.
Based on the information provided by the duo, the team learnt about a MD manufacturing unit operating from Narsapur village (Marpally mandal) in Vikarabad district, Telangana. The team led by API- Prashant Gangurde under the supervision of police inspector- Aviraj Kurhade raided the manufacturing unit on May, 17 and arrested Dayanand Manek Muddanur alias Daya and Nasir Janemiya Shaikh alias Baba-both residents of Hyderabad.
Here the team seized 130 grams of MD powder, 25 kg of raw MD and manufacturing apparatus- collective worth more than Rs.25.20 crore. After rounds of sustained interrogations, Daya spilled the beans regarding his Mumbai-based associates identified as-Ghanshyam Ramraj Saroj and Mohammed Shakeel Moin. The police laid a trap and intercepted a Swift car in Goregaon apprehended the duo from Goregaon in Mumbai. Both were found to be in possession of 71.90 grams MD worth Rs.14.38 lakh.
On May 27, the police arrested Bharat Siddheshwar Jadhav alias Babu from Lap-Budruk in Padgha (Thane district) and seized chemicals used to manufacture MD worth Rs.53,710. At this stage, the name of Salim Dola, an aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar surfaced in the investigations which led to the arrest of his accomplice Murtuza Mohsin Kothari alias Zulfikar from Surat in Gujarat on May, 31.
Zulfikar who was found with cash amounting Rs. 10.84 lakh handled financial transactions with the help of two hawala operators who worked on the behest of Dola. Further investigations led to the arrest of a trio- Babu Tafeek Khan, Mohammed Nadeem Shafique Khan and Ahmed Shah Faisal Azmi from Uttar Pradesh who operated another manufacturing unit from where the police seized 300 kg raw MD worth Rs. 300 crore.
Two others including- Mohammed Shadab Khan and Alok Virendra Singh who were linked in the operations of the manufacturing unit were arrested from Lucknow on June, 26. The 15th arrest came in the form of Shubham Narendra Pratap Singh alias Abhishek who worked for the syndicate and was found to be in possession of four fire arms and 33 live cartridges worth Rs.53,00 in Nalasopara on July 1. While more arrests are likely in the case, API Prashant Gangurde is conducting further investigations.
Who Is Salim Dola?
The involvement of Dola (who is on the run) has again made it evident that the D-company is still active in drug trafficking. Notably, the Mumbai police has already issued a lookout circular (LOC) against Dola after his name surfaced in a similar Rs.253-crore drug bust at a Sangli-based factory in March. Highly placed sources in the police department suspect that Dola fled the country after getting bail in a narcotics related case in 2018 and is now currently operating from Turkey.
The Crime Branch Team
The other members of the crime branch team comprised-API-Pushpraj Surve, PSI- Raju Tambe, ASI-Sandip Shinde, personnel-Sanjay Shinde, Santosh Landge, Avinash Garje, Pushpendra Thapa, Vijay Gaikwad, Sachin Sawant, Sachin Hule, Samir Yadav, Sudhir Khot, Vikas Rajput, Prashant Vispute, Sunny Suryavanshi, Saurabh Ingle, Gaurav Baari, Dhiraj Menhgane, Masoob Asawle, and Santosh Chavhan (cyber cell) who relentlessly worked to unearth the chain of the massive drug syndicate.
