The ambit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) probe involving seizure of highly potent marijuana has now widened to other states of the country to break the supply chain.
On January 9, the agency had seized a total contraband weighing 200 kg which is one of the biggest such seizures in the recent time. It arrested Karan Sajnani, a British national and sisters Rahila and Shaista Furniturewala. Their questioning led to the arrest of Ramkumar Tiwari, co-owner of Mumbai’s famous Muchhad Paanwala, who was found possessing 500 gram of suspected cannabinoids allegedly procured from Sajnani.
Maharashtra Minority Affairs and Skill Development Minister Nawab Malik's son-in-law Sameer Khan was also arrested in the case. NCB sources stated that their investigations have led to probe peddlers in Uttar Pradesh. A network of CBD (cannabidiol) oil infused tobacco is under the scanner of NCB.
“The investigations have revealed the contraband sold in Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Meghalaya,” said a source privy to the investigation. In UP, a unit was run in which the CBD oil infused tobacco was prepared, rolled into joints and sold to high profile clients in the city, the probe revealed. The NCB has also conducted searches at Kanpur and a suspect is currently on the run.
The contraband was sold as a ‘herbal’ product. Sajnani also imported the marijuana from Seattle, the US, and that he mis-declared the product while couriering it to the country. The probe was initiated when the NCB team detected a suspicious parcel from a courier in Bandra (West) that contained marijuana. In the follow-up operation, a huge stash of imported strains of marijuana was recovered from Sajnani, a resident of Jaswant Heights in Khar (West). Strains like 'OG Kush' which were recovered are a super-potent variety of marijuana, the NCB stated, adding that they had also recovered buds or curated marijuana from Sajnani.
