NCB busts curated marijuana buds supply chain racket in Delhi, Mumbai

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 4

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Friday said it had busted a curated marijuana buds supply chain racket between Delhi and Mumbai after arresting one Fahim Ahmed and seizing the contraband worth Rs 17.5 crore.

A senior NCB official said the agency sleuths conducted coordinated raids in Delhi and Mumbai and seized about 3.5kg of buds that cost around Rs 5,000 per gram, which comes to around Rs. 17.5 crore. The preliminary enquiry revealed that the seized stuffs were sourced from Canada or the US and were finally to be taken to Goa from Mumbai, he added.

The official said: “A crackdown on the illegal import of curated marijuana (bud) was initiated after it was found that the drug has huge market demand in Mumbai. All of it was being sourced from the USA or Canada where it is produced in large quantities.”

The NCB’s initial probe also indicated that the suppliers of these drugs were in contact with Bollywood celebrities.

As an arrested accused, Ahmed, who works as a driver with a resort in Goa, was found to be receiving the drugs, and indicated the involvement of Bollywood celebrities.

The official added that the role of some prominent drug suppliers based in Bangalore is also under scanner.

Noting that NCB sleuths would use Ahmed to further expose the entire chain of the racket, the official said: “The drugs were seized from the foreign post offices in Delhi and Mumbai based on the specific inputs.”

In the operations in Delhi, another official said: “The bud was found to be from the US and the consignee of the contraband was based in the city but he was misguided by his contact at Mumbai that some legal stuff is being procured from the US and the same was further to be collected by Mumbai based persons, whose search is underway.”