Mumbai ATS arrests foreign national with drugs worth Rs 3.37 crore

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The Mumbai ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) arrested a foreign national in the Juhu area allegedly with MDMA (Methyl enedioxy methamphetamine) worth Rs 3.37 crore, an official said on Friday, reported news agency ANI.

He was held on Thursday near a five-star hotel on Juhu Tara Road.

"Egve John was arrested with MDMA worth Rs 3.37 crore, while his associate is on the run. While two kilograms of the drug was found on him at the time of arrest, another 250 grams was seized from his associate's home in Nalasopara in neighbouring Palghar district," the Mumbai ATS official said, reported ANI.

A case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered and further investigation is underway, reported ANI.

Meanwhile, the Thane Police in Maharashtra has busted a drugs manufacturing and trafficking racket in Thane district and nabbed eight people in connection with the matter, the police said, according to the PTI.

The police said that the arrested persons were allegedly involved in a drug manufacturing and trafficking racket. The police also seized mephedrone worth Rs 55.7 lakh in the operation, an official said on Friday, as per the PTI.

The racket came to light following the arrest of Thane residents Jayesh Pradeep Kambli (25) and Vignesh Vinayak Shirke (28), who were found in possession of 78.8 gm of mephedrone, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shivraj Patil said, as per the PTI.

A probe led the police to drug suppliers Ahmed Mohammad Shafi Sheikh alias Akbar Khau (41) and Shabbir Abdul Karim Sheikh (44), who were apprehended from Chincoti in Vasai on January 5, he said, the news agency reported on Friday.

The other accused Mohammad Rasi Hanif Ansari (47) and Mohammad Amir Amantullah Khan (44), both from Kurla in Mumbai, were subsequently arrested later in the month, the official said, the PTI reported.

Khan's arrest led the police to Manoj Patil alias Bala, who was an accused in a drugs case in Gujarat and had jumped parole in March 2023, he said.

Bala changed his location frequently, but the police team worked on several inputs and finally nabbed him from Khalapur in the neighbouring Raigad district on February 6, and his associate Dinesh Devji Mhatre (38) was caught in Pen on February 10.

The police have seized mephedrone worth Rs 55.73 lakh and raw materials and chemicals worth Rs 59,000 used in manufacturing the drug, the official said.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)