Lens on actor after staffer held for ordering drugs from Europe

Mumbai: Actor Ajaz Khan is under customs officials' scanner after they arrested an employee of his on Tuesday for allegedly ordering narcotics from a European country.
Customs officials trailing the delivery of the parcel searched the actor's Andheri office, as the employee, Suraj Gaud, had mentioned it as the address for delivery. The parcel contained 100gm of Mephedrone worth Rs 30 lakh.Officials have arrested Gaud and booked him under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. He will be produced in court Wednesday.
Mephedrone, often referred to by its street name Meow Meow, is a synthetically manufactured stimulant falling in the amphetamine and cathinone category.
An official attached to the Special Intelligence and Investigation Branch (SIIB) said they will investigate the role of the actor, who was also a reality show contestant, and examine his phone records.
Ajaz Khan was arrested in 2021 and spent nearly a month after contraband was allegedly found with him during a search by the Narcoctics Control Bureau (NCB).
On Tuesday, Khan was reportedly not present at his office premises during the search operation and he did not attend the office after learning of the customs operation, sources said.
Officials who carried out a search at the actor's office said the parcel was booked by Gaud. "On the basis of specific intelligence we had detained a suspicious parcel that arrived through air courier and opening the same we found it to be MDMA weighing around 100 gram which is a commercial quantity worth Rs 30 lakh. Further investigations are on," the official said.
A close friend of the actor told TOI: "Khan told us that his employee Suraj has been arrested and he has got nothing to do with it."
A customs official said they had tried contacting Khan but his cellphone was switched off. They will summon him, record his statement and examine his call detail reports (CDR) and try to figure out if there is any involvement of a nexus.