Mumbai Police bust drug racket, Uttarakhand youth arrested

Cops apprehended Gaur with 100 grams of heroin on him. Representation pic/istock

The Borivli police have busted an interstate drug racket and arrested a 20-year-old man from Uttarakhand with 330 grams of heroin, valued at approximately R50 lakh in the international market. Three of his associates remain at large. According to police sources, the arrested accused, Suhail Jamshed Ali Gaur, is a carpenter by profession who hails from Uttarakhand and was staying in the Oshiwara area of Mumbai with a group of three to four others in a rented flat.

Acting on a tip-off on July 4, a team from Borivli police - under the guidance of DCP Anand Bhoite, Senior Inspector Mloji Shinde, and API Pramod Nimbalkar of the Anti-Terror Cell - laid a trap near Shiv Mandir, opposite Borivli railway station on SV Road. They apprehended Gaur with 100 grams of heroin on him.

"During a subsequent search of his residence, we recovered an additional 230 grams of heroin," an officer from MHB Colony police station said. "In total, 330 grams of heroin were seized, valued at around Rs 49.5 lakh." A case has been registered under the relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, and Gaur has been remanded to police custody for three days. Further investigations revealed that the heroin was couriered from Rajasthan to Mumbai via a private travel bus - a common modus operandi in recent drug smuggling cases, police said.

"Over the past few years, Borivli police have noted a pattern - several accused in such cases hail from Uttarakhand. These individuals source heroin from states like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The drugs are couriered via private buses to Mumbai, where the recipients, staying in rented homes, distribute the narcotics based on demand," a Borivli police officer said. Police are now on the lookout for Gaur's three to four accomplices who remain at large.