Mumbai Notes

Officials raided a flat in Vasundhara building, sector 23, Kopar Khairne. The heroin, valued at Rs 3 crore in the international market, was concealed in polythene bags and kept behind the gas cylinder below the kitchen platform, said Additional Commissioner of Customs A K Chatterjee. All the four persons were arrested and remanded to judicial custody, he added.

Gold, silver dust smuggler denied bail

Principal sessions judge A S Aguiar today rejected the anticipatory bail application of Mohammed Aslam accused of stealing gold and sliver dust worth lakhs of rupees from the Santacruz Electronic Export Processing Zone at Andheri.

Aslam, a contractor engaged in removing garbage from SEEPZ, and his accomplice Mohammed Rafiq Ansari, an expert in extracting the metals from the garbage,connived with two security guards, Bajirao Ghosalkar and B R Chava, to smuggle out 3.1 kg of gold and silver dust, 7.8 kg of crude silver from the premises.

Special Intelligence and Investigation Unit of the Customs raided 11 premises and seized the precious metals and some incriminating documents.Ansari admitted that the gold and silver were procured from various industries and jewellery units inside SEEPZ.

BMC clueless on Gorai illness

Nearly 40 blood samples are being sent to the National Institute of Virology, Pune to zero in on the virus that allegedly affected fishermen at Gorai, who have been ill since October.

Nearly 500 fishermen have taken ill since the second week of October and are being treated at Bhagwati Hospital and Centenary Hospital in Kandivli. However, the public health department of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC is still not certain about the nature of infection that has affected the 8000-strong population of Gorai. However, the BMC has ruled out malariaafter examination proved negative, sources said. Patients are still being seen at local dispensaries and serious patients are being sent to the hospital.

RAPA awards for non-film music

The Radio and TV Advertising Practitioners8217; Association RAPA has included non-film music videos as a new category for the 23rd annual awards this year. These awards will be given away at Nehru Centre on December one.RAPA awards are given for excellence in the categories of radio and film advertising, television serials, chat shows, television films and television programmes.

Brijbihari Mittle, a spokesperson for RAPA, said that keeping up with the technological development in the Internet era, the Association, which celebrates its silver jubilee this year, has been including awards in various categories and individual achievements.

RAPA is the only organisation which confers awards in 31 categories in 16 Indian languages as well as in English, he pointed out.

Residents to stage morcha

Residents ofDombivli East will be holding a morcha on Tuesday to protest the non-availability of water. For more than a week, residents haven8217;t been receiving water and have been depending on tankers. The morcha will be taken out at 10.30 am to the municipal office.