The Anti-Narcotic Cell of Navi Mumbai police arrested a 32-year-old man from Mhape and seized Gutkha and flavoured paan masala worth Rs 1.65 lakhs. The man stored the contraband in a room in a chawl in Mhape village for wholesale.
Identified as Santosh Prabhu Sao, a native of Arwal in Bihar, the dealer was nabbed by the police after he gave them a slip in a chase following which they laid a trap for him.
The police found different varieties of Gutkha stored in plastic bags worth Rs 1,65,784 in the possession of Sao who was a wholesaler supplying to nearby paan shops.
He was arrested under sections 188, 272, 273, 328 of IPC and sections 26, 27 (2) (e) and 59 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.
This was the third incident of Gutkha seizure in Navi Mumbai. The Kalamboli police arrested a 24-year-old from Roadpali in Navi Mumbai and seized Gutkha and flavoured Paan Masala worth Rs 1.71 lakh.
Similarly, the Anti-Narcotic Cell of Navi Mumbai police arrested a 32-year-old tempo driver and seized Gutkha worth Rs 10 lakh at Dhansar Toll Plaza on the Mumbra-Panvel highway last week.
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