Bhayandar: Some unscrupulous elements seem to have devised novel ways of operating illegal hookah joints away from the prying eyes of the cops.
According to the police, following specific information about use of nicotine and tobacco laced hookah being served from a makeshift joint in an apartment, a team led by API Sapan Bishwas under the instructions of the Senior Inspector Chandrakant Jadhav, raided a third floor apartment of Paradkar Bhawan in Bhayandar (West) on Wednesday.
The team seized hookah pots and tobacco-laced flavours. While the operators of the joint were taken into custody, soliciting customers were also rounded up, said the police.
A case under relevant sections of the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution Act) (COPTA), 2003 has been registered against the accused.
Owners of several such unnamed hookah joints, clandestinely operating out of residential and industrial units have been using social media applications to communicate with their potential clients, sources said.
