Angadia service used to bring in money, drugs also sent to US, UK: Investigators
This comes two days after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) of Ahmedabad arrested two men, and seized banned drugs, including cocaine, mephedrone, and ketamine worth Rs 250 crore after searches at multiple locations of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra's Aurangabad.
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The Angadia system is a century-old parallel banking system in the country where traders send cash generally from one state to another through a person called Angadia which stands for courier. (Representational Image) Amid the ongoing probe following a massive bust in Maharashtra, fresh details were revealed on Monday by the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) Ahmedabad. This comes two days after the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) of Ahmedabad arrested two men, and seized banned drugs, including cocaine, mephedrone, and ketamine worth Rs 250 crore after searches at multiple locations of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad.
Jitesh Hinhoria and Sandeep Kumawat are two men who have been arrested in the case. Hinhoria, investigators have said, used local angadia (courier) services to collect the money for the racket. Further, the drugs are also believed to have been transported to the United States and the United Kingdom via air transfer.
Neeraj Badgujar, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), DCB Ahmedabad, told The Indian Express, “Our Crime branch received a tip-off about most of the drugs in the state coming from Paithan MIDC factory in Aurangabad. The DRI was contacted about this and we confirmed that synthetic drugs were being manufactured.”
The factory, Mahalakshmi Industries, was involved in the production of mephedrone and ketamine. “A total of 4.5 kg of mephedrone, 4.3 kg of ketamine, and another mixture of mephedrone, weighing about 9.3 kg were recovered from the site, further investigation is on,” Badgujar added.
According to the ADCP, the key accused, Jitesh Hinhoria, worked in Aurangabad and Gujarat in different chemical factories for around 10 years after completing his BSc and MSc. After this, he started developing synthetic drugs for which he used different agents and transported the drugs through packets in luxury vehicles to Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Ahmedabad, Goa, and Tamil Nadu.
Moreover, drugs like ketamine were transported to the US and UK via air transfer. In preliminary interrogation, it was revealed, the accused used angadia services to bring in money and operate on his network. They have been charged under the provisions of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
The Angadia system is a century-old parallel banking system in the country where traders send cash generally from one state to another through a person called Angadia which stands for courier.
The ADCP also added that searching the residential premises of Hinhoria resulted in the recovery of about 23 kg of cocaine, about 2.9 kg of mephedrone, and cash worth Rs.30 lakh was recovered. The illicit market value of these narcotics drugs and psychotropic substances has been reported to be more than Rs 250 crore. However, the raw materials recovered from other companies takes the tally to more than Rs 500 crore, as per the ADCP.
Meanwhile, sources in the Gujarat police said they were tracking the leads for nearly two months. They added that the raw materials for the production of the drugs used to come from Mumbai and Surat.
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