The police have now launched a probe into the source of the drug and possible distribution network behind the seized contraband. IN coordinated efforts against the smuggling and peddling of contraband Mephedrone in the city, the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of Pune City police have filed 11 offences over the last six months against 19 persons and till now, recovered over half-a-kg of the drug in these actions.
On Monday, the ANC, which functions under the purview of Pune City Crime Branch, booked yet another person and recovered from him 81 grams of Mephedrone, also known as meow meow. The sleuths from the ANC detained a person identified as Taufiq Mohammed Shafi Bagwan (26) and seized from him Mephedrone worth Rs 3.25 lakh. The police have now launched a probe into the source of the drug and possible distribution network behind the seized contraband.
The ANC has till now registered 11 offences of Mephedrone possession and peddling against 19 persons, including the case on Monday, and seized 507 grams of the drug in the last six months. These actions have been led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Bachchan Singh, ACP Surendra Deshmukh and Inspector Vinayak Gaikwad of the ANC along with the team from the cell. Officials said the coordinated efforts were prompted by multiple inputs about increasing use of the drug in the city.
Mephedrone, also known as meow meow or white magic, is a synthetically manufactured stimulant of the amphetamine and cathinone category. Till early 2010s, the drug was not included in the list of contrabands under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. But multiple seizures of large quantities of the drug and rising instances of its consumption as narcotic in large cities prompted authorities to include it in the list in 2015.