Five held for possessing, smuggling drugs

MUMBAI: The Anti Narcotic Cell has arrested five accused persons for transporting and dealing in various banned drugs. ANC has seized Amphetamine worth Rs 23 lakh. More arrests will be made in the case, said a police official. Acting on a tip-off, the ANC officials had intercepted a passenger at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport's immigration counter on September 18, who was on her way to Doha in a Qatar Airways flight No. QR 557. The woman, identified as Furkana Shaikh (27), a resident of Kurla, underwent the checking process, where the officials found three story books, 13 gold bangles and 465 grams of Amphetamine worth Rs 23 lakh. The ANC officials immediately placed her under arrest and started interrogating her to ascertain the source of the drug. Further investigation into the case revealed Shaikh was working with two others, identified as Tabassum Aarif Shaikh (32) and Rashid Faras (30), who were picked up from Musafirkhana in Masjid and arrested on September 19. During the interrogation, Faras said he had help from two more men from Kerala, who were identified as Abdul Rashid Mulla (32) and Mustakim Mohammad Ali (30). Both these accused were hiding in a hotel at Dongri who were traced and arrested on September 22. All the five arrested accused were dealing in different types of drugs like Amphetamine, Meow Meow, Cannabis among others. The police suspect there are more people involved in the drug racket which might turn up to make many more arrests in the coming days. All the accused were a part of the drug racket, hawala racket who are infamous in the international drug and gold markets.