Revealed! Mumbai's drug dealers using families from Bihar, UP as mules

Family caught during Sundays bust taken to courtThat drug dealers have to always stay one step ahead of the law is a given Not to mention their everevolving modus operandi which keeps law enforcement agencies on their toes This week the Mumbai crime branchrsquos AntiNarcotics Cell ANC came up against their newest chicanery ndash seemingly respectable families being roped in to throw cops off the scentThe ploy which played out successfully for fivelong years was busted during an interstate drug trafficking racket on MondayAn offer you canrsquot refuseAccording to ANC sources drug dealers would masquerade as tour operators and offer free tour packages in Mumbai to families in Bihar Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh ldquoThe deal was too good to refuse as it involved travelling to Mumbai in an SUV touring across Mumbai and even R20000 to spendrdquo the source told midday The vehicles unbeknownst to the families would be stocked with drugsAccording to the ANC the families on tour were the perfect cover to dodge highway police and other enforcement agencies Once the touring family reached Mumbai the consignment was moved to another vehicle and from there to the suppliers ANC sources said that the new modus operandi was a hit among drug traffickers because families in these regions regularly fell for the lucrative ldquofree Mumbai tourrdquo offerPappu Singh and his family and the other accused being produced in courtA chance bustThe Mumbai ANC stumbled upon the modus operandi accidentally this week On Monday after ANC officials received specific information they arrested seven people including a minor girl and a woman and seized 110kg of cannabis ganja while the contraband was being offloaded from a tour vehicle to another vehicle in Mankhurd When questioned the racketeers revealed their modus operandiThose arrested include Kamar Ahmad 40 a Mumbaibased peddler who had placed an order for the drugs Reay Roadbased taxi driver Mohammad Arif 29 Munna Kumar 34 and Mukesh Singh who drove the vehicle from Bihar to Mumbai The racketeers had used Pappu Singh a waiter in Patna his wife Rinku Singh and their 15yearold daughter as cover The police are still investigating if Singh and his family were aware of the consignment being transported in the vehicleThe mastermindAccording to ANC sources citybased peddler Ahmad is the key person in the interstate racket He was arrested by the Ghatkopar ANC around three years ago but later managed to secure bail After being released on bail Ahmad decided to come up with the ldquofree family tour of MumbairdquoMastermind Kamar AhmadAhmad would first get orders from his network of peddlers across Mumbai after which he would arrange the car driver and the family He would then contact cannabis suppliers from states like Andhra Pradesh Orissa and Jharkhand for his suppliesANC believes that Ahmad had used around five to six families as cover to smuggle the drugs Officials are trying to obtain more details from these families the source saidAir freshener did the trickWhile some families were completely unaware about the racket there were others who were in the knowThe SUV that was used to transport the cannabis consignment and the taxi in which it was to be transferred once it reached MumbaiWhen questioned the Singh family told interrogators that they had received an offer from a Biharbased man wanted in the case who told them that he would arrange a ldquofree triprdquo for his entire family Since they had never been to Mumbai before they jumped on the ideaThe Biharbased man also told the family that some of his luggage in this case cannabis would be transported to Mumbai in the vehicle During the entire journey racketeers kept spraying air freshener in the car to kill the strong odour said an ANC official while requesting anonymityDeputy Commissioner of Police Shivdeep Lande said ldquoOn Monday we produced the accused in court They have been remanded to police custody The minor has been sent to the Dongri child correction homerdquo