Nagpur: In a significant action against rampant smuggling of MD drugs, Nagpur Police have arrested a man based in Mominpura and seized around 536 grams of the drug worth approximately Rs. 50 lakh in the Tehsil area here late on Wednesday night.
Interestingly, the accused informed the police that he had obtained the MD from drug peddlers who were apprehended from Dhantoli-based Loharkar Hotel on Monday.
Notably, the City Police Crime Branch unit raided Loharkar Hotel in Dhantoli following a tip-off and arrested eight persons connected to the Mephedrone (MD) narcotics powder shortly after midnight on Monday. MD drugs worth around Rs. 10 lakh were recovered from the eight persons.
The police have taken into custody Mohd Mustafa alias Shanu Khan, Ashwin Turkel, and others for their alleged role in supplying MD drugs to their customers from the hotel.
One of the top criminals, Waseem, was supposed to receive the consignment at the location. The police have also taken the owner of the hotel, Nagendra Athankar, into custody for allowing drug peddling and distribution from his hotel. An offence was registered at Dhantoli Police Station.
This was followed by Commissioner of Police Ravinder Singal visiting the Dhantoli-based hotel on Wednesday, where MD drugs worth Rs. 10 lakh were recovered a day earlier. He instructed authorities to initiate the formal process of sealing the premises.
The Crime Branch apprehended seven individuals, including the hotel owner Nagendra Athankar, from the establishment on Tuesday.
Singal, accompanied by Crime Branch officials, inspected the room at Loharkar Hotel where top gangsters of Nagpur, Shanu Khan, Ashwin Turkel, and others, were apprehended while attempting to deliver the MD drugs to another criminal identified as Waseem from Shanti Nagar, according to a report in a local Marathi daily.
Additionally, Singal has directed the Crime Branch team to investigate the Mumbai connection of this gang involved in supplying MD drugs.
