The anti-narcotics cell attached to the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police have registered 43 drug related cases and arrested 53 peddlers with seizures amounting more than ₹5.41 crore in the past 11 months, this year.
Notably, eight out of all the accused turned out to be Nigerian nationals with some illegally staying in the country without valid documents.
All the accused have been booked under the relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act-1985. While the seizure was limited to ₹1.80 crore, 70 peddlers were arrested in a total of 70 cases in the corresponding period last year.
This year mephedrone (MD) topped the seizure list with more than 2kg mephedrone (MD) worth ₹4.61 crore followed by 106 grams cocaine worth ₹31.98 lakh and 72 grams of heroin worth ₹18.48 lakh. Apart from other drugs like-ganja and charas (cannabis) collectively worth more than ₹13.40 lakh, the ANC has also seized large quantities of cough syrup bottles containing codeine phosphate, tablets of Alprazolam and Tramadol (known as ISIS drug) capsules-all scheduled drugs which are said to be powerful intoxicants having stringent norms for its sale and purchase. A steep rise has been witnessed in consumption of scheduled drugs by addicts to get high.
MBVV meeting with district level anti-drug officials
In an attempt to curb the alarming rise in consumption and transportation of drugs including those falling under the scheduled category, the MBVV police led by commissioner Madhukar Pandey had conducted a joint meeting via video conferencing with district level anti-drug working committee comprising officials from the food and drugs administration (FDA), customs department, excise wing and health department.
"Apart from the crackdowns to weed out the drug menace from the region, our team under the guidance of the commissioner and other senior officers have been regularly conducting awareness campaigns against drugs. However, parents should also keep an eye on their children to ensure that they don't land in the ugly world of drug addiction due to bad company," said police inspector Amar Marathe of the ANC.Meanwhile 825 people were booked for drug consumption this year, similar offences were limited to 408 and 548 in 2012 and 2022 respectively.
