Cigarettes at stalls licensed to sell snacks; eight booked

Navi Mumbai: Eight people were booked in Vashi on Saturday evening for selling cigarettes in stalls that have licence for running telephone booth and selling snacks. Cigarettes worth ₹41,900 were seized during a raid by the police, Anti-Narcotics Cell, and Sambandh Health Foundation, a Delhi-based NGO.

Abdul Kader Faqruddin Shaikh (38), Dineshkumar Pyarelal Chaurasiya (35), and Jayprakash Singh (44) were booked under Sections 5/22 and 7/20 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act (COTPA) for selling cigarettes in their stalls with a telephone booth licence. Cigarettes worth ₹7,000 were seized from their stalls.

Moinudeen Shamsudeen Ansari (28) and Qutubuddin Gulab Ansari (45) were booked for selling cigarettes in stalls with a licence of running snack stalls.

The other three stall owners, identified as Anand Sahdev Agrawal (36), Avdesh Ayodhya Prajapati (33), and Shamnath Ramlal Gupta (62) were booked for selling cigarettes without the warning advertisement on them. These five were booked under Sections 5/22 and 6(2)/21 of the COTPA. Cigarettes worth ₹34,900 were seized from them.

“They also had their stalls within a radius of 100 metres from educational institutions in Sector 2, which is not allowed. We have sent offender notices to be present at the police station. We have also sent a letter to the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation requesting them to permanently suspend their licences,” senior police inspector Ajay Landge, Vashi police station, said.

Mr. Landge said they have also urged the Navi Mumbai civic body to check other stalls in the area, and cancel licence if any of them found violating rules.

In the drive, the Vashi police also booked eight others for smoking in public places, and a fine of ₹200 was collected from each of them.