Thane: Four arrested with contraband drugs worth Rs 12 lakh

According to sources, the four were held with 1,800 strips of tramadol hydrochloride tablets on Monday night.

The drugs were reportedly transported from Indore
to Thane. (Express photo by Deepak Joshi)

Four men, including a builder from Ahmedabad, were arrested by Thane police on Monday for allegedly possessing contraband drugs worth over Rs 12 lakh. They had sourced the drugs from Indore, the police said.

According to sources, the four were held with 1,800 strips of tramadol hydrochloride tablets on Monday night. “We had information based on which we caught Mayur Mehta, a Mumbai resident, from Brahmand in Thane. He then led us to the others who have been identified as Romel Laurence Vaz, Santosh Pandey and Deepak Kothari. Kothari is a builder from Ahmedabad. The others are from Mumbai and Thane,” said Pradeep Sharma, senior inspector, anti-extortion cell, Thane.

The drugs were reportedly packed in large boxes and transported from Indore to Thane, the police said. “The drugs were being brought to Thane to be smuggled. The men were running a syndicate of supplying the drugs to foreign countries,” Sharma said.

The drug, also known as Fighter Drug, is used by ISIS, Sharma said. “Our intelligence shows that the terrorist group provides all of its recruits with strips of this drug. It acts as a numbing agent and even in case of severe injuries, there is no pain felt by the consumer of the drug,” Sharma said. “We are investigating where the men were trying to sell the drugs,” he added.

The Indian government had listed the drug as a contraband substance in April this year, sources said.

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