Chennai:

In a big seizure, the Narcotics Control Bureau in Chennai has recovered 1.8 kg of cocaine and 1.4 kg of MDMA (ecstasy), busting a pan-India network. The consignment, authorities said, is worth Rs 22 crore in the international market. 

A statement by NCB Chennai Zonal Director P Aravindhan said the cocaine was seized from a Bolivian woman passenger when she landed in Chennai on May 9. The drug was found “concealed inside her woollen jacket”. Further investigation led to the arrest of two women – an Indian and a Brazilian – in Mumbai and the recovery of an additional 15 gm of cocaine from the house of the accused.

As part of another joint operation with the Customs Department, the NCB intercepted a parcel from the Netherlands with 1.4 kg of MDMA. Investigators also tracked down and arrested two Nigerians, in Puducherry and Bengaluru, who they suspect were supposed to receive the contraband. 

In March, a film producer and former DMK functionary, Jaffer Sadiq, had been arrested after a four-month manhunt, for allegedly smuggling drugs worth over Rs 2,000 crore out of the country.  The DMK, which is the ruling party in Chennai, had expelled Sadiq and distanced itself from him. 

New Delhi:

Banned drug mephedrone worth Rs 300 crore has been seized during a raid in Maharashtra’s Sangli, officials said on Thursday. 

A whopping 140 kg of the mephedrone, which is commonly known as ‘Meow Meow’, was seized during a raid at a company in the Kupwad MIDC area.

Three people involved in the drug syndicate have been arrested, the official said.

Drugs worth Rs 3,700 crore have so far been recovered in the ongoing raids by Pune Police in different parts of the country.

Earlier on Wednesday, police said that they unearthed a staggering 1,100 kilograms of mephedrone with an estimated value exceeding Rs 2,500 crore in raids across Pune and Delhi.

The operation began with the arrest of three drug smugglers in Pune, accompanied by the seizure of 700 kg of mephedrone. The subsequent interrogation of these individuals led to the confiscation of an additional 400 kg of the synthetic stimulant from godown-like structures in Delhi’s Hauz Khas area.

Another large consignment of Mephedrone was stored in Pune, particularly in the Kurkumbh MIDC area.

According to Pune Police sources, the case will now be investigated from the terror funding angle.