Mumbai, April 30: The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Navi Mumbai Police has busted a big drug syndicate and arrested 10 people including two policemen and a customs officer. Banned material and other property worth Rs 73 lakh has been seized from all of them. Police have suspected Chikhar Bhai, who lives abroad, to be behind this syndicate.
Navi Mumbai Crime Branch Deputy Commissioner of Police Amit Kale said on Wednesday that on April 14, based on a tip-off, the team of Nerul Police Station arrested Ashish Gaware (22) and Ahmed Algi (23) with 17.19 grams of drugs worth Rs 2.76 lakh. After interrogating these two, 28-year-old Sujeet Bangera was arrested. Bangera used to order drugs from America or Thailand. With the help of Customs Officer Prashant Gaur, this parcel used to get approval at the airport. Therefore, on the information given by Bangera, the police also arrested Customs Officer Prashant Gaur. After interrogating all of them, the police came to know that 56-year-old Kamal Chandwani used to receive the drug parcels coming from abroad and hand them over to Sujit Bangera. Therefore, the police also arrested Kamal Chandwani.
DCP added further that during an interrogation of Chandwani arrested in this case revealed that he used to deceive the investigating agencies by showing fake police ID card. Investigation of this case revealed that Sachin Bhalerao, a policeman posted at Kharghar Police Station and Sanjay Fulkhar associated with the Anti-Narcotics Unit, used to help him, therefore the police also arrested both of them. Investigation revealed that one of these policemen had promised to help Chandwani and prevent his arrest and in return he had received Rs 6 lakh. Ankit Patel, 37, and Rinku Kumar Patel, 39, have been arrested for converting cryptocurrency stablecoins from ‘Tether’ (USDT) into cash.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police has suspected Chikharbhai, who lives abroad, to be behind this syndicate. The police have seized ganja, hydroponic ganja, cocaine worth Rs 16.43 lakh, a car worth Rs 7 lakh, other property worth Rs 14.12 lakh and other items, taking the total value of the seized items to Rs 73 lakh.
