Experts said there is a huge market for guggul gum and the need of the hour is to address the depleting stock of guggul plants and sustainable harvesting of guggul gum without killing the plant,” Harsh Thakkar, deputy conservator of forests (DCF) of Kutch (east) forest department said on Thursday Six foreign nationals including three women have been arrested with alleged possession of mephedrone (MD) and cocaine worth Rs 68 lakh in Pune.
The accused, Hasan Ali Kasid (32), Bekai Hamis (42), Nyamhanqa Annastazia David (26) and Manda Manfred Daud (30), are from Tanzania and Persy Naiga (25) and Shamim Nandawala (30) are from Uganda, police said.
Acting on a tip-off, a team of the Anti-Narcotics Cell of Pune City Police’s Crime Branch raided a row house at Atur Hills Society in Undri and arrested the accused on Wednesday.
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The police recovered 136.8 grams of cocaine estimated at Rs 9,57,600, 1.151 kg of MD worth Rs 57,55,000, Rs 54,000 cash and other items, including weighing machine, cellphones, bottles and plastic bags, from their possession.
Shamim, David and Manda are women, police said. They were residing with the other three accused at the row house in Undri for the past few months, police said. Manda is a student of B.Pharma, Bekia came to India on a tourist visa and Kasid claimed to be doing business in garments. They were selling banned drugs MD and cocaine to customers in Pune, police said.
Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta said they are investigating where the drugs were procured and to who the accused were planning to sell them.
The police are also probing how the accused met each other and got involved in the drugs racket and whether there are any local residents associated with them.
An offence in this case was lodged at Kondhwa police station under sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.