Mumbai is no stranger to drugs. Whether it is charas, marijuana, heroin or designer drugs, all manner of narcotics have been seized by agencies in the city.
This includes the Anti-Narcotics Cell of Mumbai Police, Narcotics Control Bureau, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and Customs.
However, the recent trend is the cultivation of narcotics at home, rather than smuggling. Earlier this year, acting on an intelligence input, the NCB raided a 2BHK flat in Palava City in Dombivli, where they found cannabis being cultivated.
“The Cannabis was being cultivated there through Hydroponic techniques,” an NCB official said. The cultivation setup included water pumps, air circulation systems and photosynthesis lighting systems.
Earlier, in February, two German nationals were arrested for growing cannabis at a bungalow in Wai town in Satara. Cannabis plants were seized.
Smuggling, distribution
And earlier this year, police seized 17.5 kg hashish being smuggled from Jammu and Kashmir to Mumbai.
Recently, the NCB had arrested Iqbal Kaskar, the brother of notorious underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, whom the United States have designated as “global terrorist”.
A prominent former actor Mamta Kulkarni and her husband Vicky Goswami, who are based in Africa, had come under the scanner of the US Drug Enforcement Administration — and a team had also visited Mumbai as part of the investigations.
“Mumbai is not only a destination for clandestine imports of narcotics, it has also been used as a distribution and exit route,” officials said. In the past, state and federal agencies have intercepted couriers and parcels with concealed contraband meant for foreign locations
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