The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has seized benami properties worth Rs 1,000 crore which were purchased by the drug mafia.
NCB's Mumbai Zonal Director, Amit Ghawate, told FPJ that an operation has been launched by the Bureau's Financial Action Task Force as per a directive of the Union home ministry.
The Bureau has received information about properties in Dongri, Masjid, Colaba and other areas which have been purchased in benami names by the mafia with money generated by drug trade.
The mafia is also believed to have invested in properties in other parts of Maharashtra in warehouses and other properties. Properties have apparently been purchased even in the names of pet dogs and cats. The mafia has front organisations in the form of companies for export-import business, scrap material and real estate.
Drug money into benami properties
The investigation revealed that the drug mafia is channelling their money into benami properties. Surprisingly, NCB discovered that some properties attached to the drug mafia were registered under the names of pets such as dogs and cats, a fabricated tactic to further evade scrutiny. The drugs mafia's tactical manoeuvrers have taken a technological leap, crafting an impervious shield against IT database detection and escaping the radar of law enforcement agencies. Their stratagem involves registering benami properties under the most unlikely of innocent animals—a cunning deception that has thus far remained hidden from scrutiny.Undeterred by this sophisticated ploy, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has set its sights on dismantling this intricate system.
Female arrested from Mumbra has 15 flats in her name
Apart from that modus operandi, the NCB has identified a few more technologies that the drug mafia syndicate is using and this information has been shared with the Income Tax department. According to the NCB, the database in Maharashtra is based on Pan card and Name, and drug mafia members knowingly omitted a single letter in their spelling while registering the property to hoodwink agencies. The NCB has also apprehended a woman from Mumbra who was into drug business and she had acquired as many as 15 apartments.
Ghawate said the operation was still ongoing. The NCB is actively working on identifying and seizing these properties using legal procedures. However, he declined to give details lest it hamper the operation.
NCB working in tandem with other security agencies
The NCB is collaborating with experts to investigate the technology and registration methods used by drug mafias to evade the Income Tax database. This suggests an effort to combat money laundering and tax evasion associated with illegal drug trade.
The NCB has also shared relevant information with other security agencies as part of the Ministry of Home Affairs' initiative involving NATGRID (National Grid). This initiative aims to establish a comprehensive master database system in India, primarily for countering terrorism. In conjunction with this effort, the NCB is accumulating necessary information for their potential operations.
