October 17th 2023.
Recently, politician Satyajeet Tambe had written to the Director General of Police Rajnish Seth and demanded that efforts should be taken across the state to curb the menace of drug trafficking to prevent it from becoming 'Udta Maharashtra'. This was in response to the 2016 movie Udta Punjab which highlighted the issue of the drug menace taking the youth of Punjab in its grip.
The police, alongside central agencies like the Narcotics Control Bureau, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, and Customs have taken great strides in curbing the menace of drug smuggling and trafficking in the city and state. In the recent past, several drug manufacturing units, which are the source of drug preparation, have been busted.
From January to July this year, the Mumbai Police have registered a total of 975 cases of drug smuggling. 1161 accused have been arrested, and drugs worth more than ₹42 crore have been seized, including heroin worth ₹3.2 crore, hashish worth ₹1.82 crore, cocaine worth ₹49 lakh, MD worth ₹28.42 crore, and ganja worth ₹1.89 crore. In the last week, drug factories have been busted in Nashik, Solapur, and Pune, from where drugs worth ₹500 crore have been recovered, and dozens of accused have been arrested.
The Anti Narcotics Cell has registered a total of 86 cases in the year 2023, in which 174 drug suppliers have been arrested, and drugs worth ₹38 crore have been recovered from them. In the year 2022, the Worli unit of the Mumbai Anti Narcotics Cell busted a drug factory in the Bharuch district of Gujarat. Police had recovered about 513 kg of MD drugs from Ankleshwar area of Bharuch. The value of the seized drugs in the international market is ₹1,026 crore.
Recently, based on credible input and prolonged field surveillance, the NCB Mumbai team intercepted one vehicle on 06.10.2023 in Pune. On close examination of the contents of the vehicle, suspicious powder and some lab equipment were noticed. On spot interrogation of a person in the vehicle, it was found that there was a factory shed in the nearby area. On verification, it was found that there is a systematic and sophisticated clandestine laboratory in the said factory shed. On examination of this clandestine lab, 173.35 kgs Alprazolam was found along with huge stock of raw material required for alprazolam manufacturing. A small waste pond was also formed just outside the clandestine lab premise.
In this case, one person who went for sale of illegally manufactured alprazolam was caught at Hyderabad. It was also found that both these clandestine labs were run by the same drug syndicate. The illegal alprazolam manufactured was sold in Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh, especially for making illegal Todi.
The recent actions taken by the police and other agencies have been successful in curbing the menace of drug trafficking and smuggling in the state, and in preventing Maharashtra from becoming 'Udta Maharashtra'. However, the police and other agencies must remain vigilant in order to ensure that the situation does not worsen. Additionally, ED raids on properties linked to drug traffickers like Aliasgar Shirazi must also be conducted to further curb the menace of drug trafficking in the state.
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