Two Nigerians among 7 held in crackdown on city drug peddlers
Policeman shows he was on duty, acquitted in POCSO case
In an intensive operation spearheaded by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) to break the Mephedrone (MD) network, the police have apprehended seven drug peddlers, including two Nigerians and seized the banned drugs. The accused have been booked under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The arrest of actor Gaurav Dixit was a part of this special drive, wherein he was nabbed with MD, small quantity of charas and some tablets of MDMA/ Ecstasy from his house in Andheri West.
According to police officials, the drive was launched by the NCB on Thursday. Two officials had sustained injuries while conducting a raid in Navi Mumbai, an official said, adding that the team recovered a commercial quantity of MD from the accused.
In a series of six operations, the NCB rooted out drug peddlers. In the first operation on Thursday, NCB’s Mumbai Zonal Unit (MZU) intercepted a drug peddler Abu Sufyan Khan, a historysheeter from Jogeshwari and recovered an intermediate quantity of MD from him. In another operation, two men, including a Nigerian, Jonhcen Maka, were arrested from Nalasopara. The police seized 57.3 grams of MD along with a small quantity of charas and ganja (cannabis) in Vasai and Nallasopara East. Maka is suspected to be a major supplier of MD in the area.
In another operation at Goregaon, Irfan Ikramuddin Khan was nabbed and the police seized 52 grams of MD. Meanwhile, in an operation conducted in Navi Mumbai’s Kharghar area, the NCB seized at least 55 grams of MD and a small quantity of ganja from Nigerian drug peddler Kingsley Ukwueza on the intermediate night of Thursday and Friday.
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A special court designated under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on Thursday acquitted a 45-year-old police driver in a case of molesting another policeman’s minor daughter at his residence in the police quarters in 2018, ruling out his presence at his home during the alleged time.
The court ruled out his presence at the alleged time of the offence, 9.30 PM. The accused examined a head constable as a defence witness who deposed that on the particular date, the accused had been on duty from 3 pm to 10 pm. The constable also produced before the court a register which established the same.
“It is seen that duty hours of the accused were 3 pm till 10 pm. Therefore the incident in the house of the accused at 9.30 pm becomes doubtful.” the court said in its judgment. It also pointed at the delay of two days in lodging the FIR and said it “raises doubt”. “Both sides are policemen's family. Admittedly there is one police station below the house of the complainant. It was easy to inform the police on the same night. The father of the victim is also in the police. It is seen that the complaint is not lodged immediately or even the next day,” special judge Priti Kumar (Ghule) said.
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