Three held with mephedrone worth Rs 1.11 cr in Ahmedabad

PTI, Sep 21, 2023, 5:06 PM IST

Three persons were held over the last two days allegedly with mephedrone worth Rs 1.11 crore in Ahmedabad in Gujarat, police said on Thursday.

While 521 grams of the drug worth Rs 52.18 lakh were seized from two men during a raid at a hotel room on Wednesday, 594.8 grams worth Rs 59.48 lakh were recovered from one Zakir Hussain Shaikh on Thursday, said a release from Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch.

On Wednesday, the Crime Branch nabbed one Taufiq aka Tiger Ghanchi, a resident of Juhapura in Ahmedabad, and one Suhail Mansoori, a resident of Udaipur in Rajasthan, from a hotel room in Narol area of the city and recovered 521 grams of the contraband.

”Preliminary probe has revealed Mansoori works as a drug peddler for one Arif Mohammad Pathan, an Udaipur-based supplier who sells drugs to smaller dealers in other cities and states,” an official said.

After getting orders from Ghanchi, a small-time drug dealer, Pathan aka Dipu sent Mansoori to Ahmedabad with one kilogram of mephedrone, he said, adding some other small-time drug dealers had also placed an order and made advance payment to Dipu.

”As instructed by Dipu, Mansoori reached Ahmedabad five days ago with one kg of narcotics and had already handed over drug packets to Ghanchi and some other drug dealers who had placed orders and had made payment to Dipu,” said the Crime Branch release.

On Wednesday, when Ghanchi once again reached the hotel to buy some more quantity of drugs, crime branch personnel raided the place and caught Ghanchi and Mansoori with drugs, said the release.

Based on a specific tip off, drug dealer Zakir Hussain Shaikh was held on Thursday from Sarkhej area of the city with mephedrone worth Rs 59.48 lakh, the release added.

It was revealed that Shaikh, a resident of Fatehwadi area of the city, and his brother Anwar Hussain, used to buy the drug from Palanpur-based drug supplier Manu Chaudhary.

The duo used to visit Palanpur city of Banaskantha district in their auto-rickshaw twice or thrice every week to buy mephedrone from Chaudhary, who along with Anwar are now on the run, said the release.

Chaudhary had spent nearly seven years behind bars in the past for the possession of opium, the release informed.