A special squad of the Navi Mumbai Police has arrested a man from Rajasthan and seized poppy straw drug weighing eight kg from him.
The accused, identified as Sunil Balwanta Ram Bishnoi (28), was arrested on Wednesday evening from Kopri village in Vashi.
“Based on information, we laid a trap at Kopri village. At the time of his arrest, he was in possession of 0.312 gram of the drug. Later, we raided his residence at Sector 26 in Vashi where we found a polythene bag containing 7.690 kg of the drug,” assistant police inspector Gangadhar Devde from APMC police station, who is part of the special squad, said.
Mr. Bishnoi, who is originally from Rajasthan, has been staying in Vashi for the last three years, and was working as a cylinder delivery man for an HP gas agency.
During interrogation, he revealed that he had brought the drug from Rajasthan one month ago, and he was trying to sell it. He had travelled from Rajasthan to Navi Mumbai using an e-pass and brought the drug hidden in his bag. He further told the police that the drug had reached Rajasthan from Afghanistan via Pakistan.
“It is a rare drug found in the Indian market. The ‘high’ that is derived from this drug is more than most of the other drugs and is popular among truck drivers as ‘bukki’, which helps them stay awake and alert,” an officer attached to the anti-narcotics unit of the Navi Mumbai police said.
“We are trying to bust the chain of drug peddlers attached to this case,” Pankaj Dahane, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone I, said.