To avoid being caught, members of the notorious gutkha mafia are now using high end luxury cars to smuggle their consignment and ferry it to local vendors in the twin-city. Acting on an information about a racket involving high-end cars and bikes being used for smuggling and supplying gutkha, the crime branch unit (Zone I) of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police raided a shop in the RNP park area of Bhayandar (east) and caught two people who were found to be loading gunny bags into a silver-coloured Swift Dzire car on Thursday. Upon checking the team found that the bags were stashed with hundreds of pan-masala and scented tobacco product sachets.
Investigations led to another shop and a car where more gunny bags were found to be stocked. The racketeers confessed that they used cars and bikes to supply the banned consignment to local paan stalls and other small-time vendors.
An offence under the relevant sections of the IPC and Food Safety and Standards (Prohibition and Restriction on Sales) Act, 2011 has been registered against the trio at the Navghar police station in Bhayandar (east). However, the actual dealer and the source of consignment continues to remain a mystery.
The value of the seized consignment comprising pan-masala and scented tobacco products of various brands is said to be around Rs. 7 lakh. Two cars and a bike have also been impounded during the raid. A strong syndicate of the notorious gutkha smugglers brazenly operate a well-oiled distribution network in the twin-city, even as officials from the Food and Drug Administration, Thane have chosen to remain mute spectators to the illegal activities.
