‘Saji stole 100 kg drugs from NCB’

Mateen Hafeez I TNN
Mumbai: Anti-terrorism squad sources on Wednesday told TOI that Saji Mohan, the IPS officer currently in custody on charges of dealing in narcotics, stole about 100 kg of heroin from the seized stock of the Chandigarh Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB) during his tenure as its zonal director.

Saji, 39, was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS in January, barely two weeks after he took charge as deputy director at the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Kochi. The ATS arrested him from a club in Oshiwara, claiming to have recovered 12 kg heroin from him. During the probe, cops said they have collectively seized 39 kg heroin in Mumbai belonging to Saji.

“The Chandigarh NCB has registered a fresh case of stealing narcotics from government premises. NCB officials have estimated that about 100 kg of drugs was stolen,’’ said an officer from Mumbai.

The drugs, said sources, were kept in the NCB godown. The drugs were seized by the Border Security Force (BSF) as unclaimed material and later deposited with the NCB. Saji was in charge of the godown.

The Chandigarh NCB has registered a fresh case this week against Saji and booked him under the stringent Section 59 (2) of the NDPS Act, which provides for a minimum 10 years and a maximum 20 years in jail. This section was not invoked on Saji by the ATS. The section relates to the “failure of authorised officers in their duty or their connivance in contravention of the provisions of the NDPS Act’’.

Saji is the first IPS officer to be arrested in a drugs case. The ATS has filed a 400-page chargesheet against Saji and his two associates.

The Times of India, May 28, 2009