Water filters used to hide Rs 15 crore drug

Mateen Hafeez / TNN

 May 16, 2019, 04.16 AM IST

 

MUMBAI: Directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) officials on Monday intercepted a taxi, part of a cab aggregator, and found 15kg amphetamine hidden in two water filters. It was being taken to the Vashi post office to be sent to South Africa. The narcotics are worth Rs 15 crore, said DRI officials.

The DRI arrested Shiva Sharma (38), a Thane resident and Ugochi Chikelu (35), a Nigerian national, from his rented flat in Khargar, Navi Mumbai. Sharma, who owns the cab was with a driver in the car. Sharma said that it was Chikelu’s consignment. Sharma told the DRI that on May 4 and May 6 too he had sent consignments on Chikelu’s instructions.


The Times of India, May 16, 2019

POLICE ON ARRESTED PAK FISHERMEN - `8 on heroin boat not smugglers'

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

MUMBAI: 



The Yellow Gate police station, where the seizure of 232 kg of heroine worth Rs 600 crore in the international market from a Pakistani boat was investigated, has said that the eight occupants of the boat were not smugglers.

“They were not smugglers but fishermen who didn't know about the contents of the containers in which the heroin was hidden,“ a police officer said on Monday . The finding may weaken the police case against the eight Pakistanis, who have been slapped with various sections of the IPC, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and maritime laws and are lodged in Arthur Road Jail.
“The accused are fishermen,“ the police officer said.“They were paid Rs 10,000 each for delivering small containers to another boat in the Arabian Sea. They never opened the containers and didn't even know the names of the people who were to take delivery .“

A security establishment insider said the boat which was supposed to receive the con signment, Al-Yasir, did not turn up after the fishermen's boat was intercepted. The coast guard and the navy had intercepted the Pakistani boat on April 20. The heroin packets were hidden in plastic cans. Three satellite phones and GPS were also found. The latest communication system was used to facilitate transshipment of the contraband to another boat, said coast guard sources. The apprehended boat was brought to Porbandar.

“A fisherman, Shaukat Ali, had given them the consign ment,“ the officer said. “ Ali is in-charge of two fishing boats in Pakistan. The eight fishermen left the Ibrahim Hyderi port near Karachi with 11 containers, all with heroin. Ali had given three satellite phones to the eight fishermen. Ali had made several calls to them and told them they would receive a call from the other party and some people will come on the boat to take the delivery.“
The arrested are Alibakhsh Allahbakhsh (30), G Siddique (40), Bakhsh Natho (40), Gulshan Maulabakhsh (30), Yunus Sutar (35), Mohmmad Yusuf (40), Mohmmad Ahmed (28), Maqsood Akhtar.


THE TIMES OF INDIA, MAY 12, 2015





`Lewd gestures at woman worse than 3rd degree'

Rebecca Samervel & Mateen Hafeez/ TNN





  Mumbai: A special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) court on Tuesday took strong objection against the alleged indecent conduct of a Satarabased senior police officer against a woman accused in a drugs case. The court was hearing the remand application of Sashikala Patankar alias Baby , arrested last week in connection with the seizure of 110kg mephedrone, also called meow meow. “Making indecent gestures at a woman is more than the third degree,“ special judge U B Hejib said. The court remanded Patankar in police custody till Saturday .
Following standard procedure, the judge had asked the accused if she had any complaints. The court's observations came after Patankar complained to the judge that while in custody deputy police superintendent Deepak Humbre had visited her cell and behaved inappropriately . “He made indecent gestures and also used indecent language. He was angry as I was the one who had acted as a mediator and had helped the police arrest head constable Dharma Kalokhe. He threatened me and said he would assault me just like he had thrashed my son,“ Patankar said.

The court also questioned the cops for letting the officer not connected to the case meet the accused. The court said that such vulgar gestures would not be tolerated by any decent woman.

“The police custody is extended, provided the accused should be medically examined every day and a report on the same should be filed before the court,“ the court said. The judge further said that the cops should ensure that at the time of interrogation, only officers connected to the case should be allowed.

While seeking extension of Patankar's police custody , the prosecution said huge quantities of drugs were found in her home in Khandala and Kalokhe's office and that the cops needed to find the link between the two.

The city crime branch took Maknan Samuel, an drug peddler, in its custody terming him the source of the 120kg drugs seized in March. Samuel was lodged in Arthur Road jail in another narcotics case since December 2014. The police had earlier arrested Kalokhe, Patankar and her son, Satish.

BABY PATANKAR


THE TIMES OF INDIA, APRIL 29, 2015

PAK FISHERMEN HELD WITH HEROIN - `Accused had spoken to people in Pak 6 times'

Mateen Hafeez





Mumbai: The Yellow Gate police, probing the seizure of 232 kg heroin worth Rs 6.93 crore from a Pakistani boat, said the occupants had spoken to some people on Pakistani numbers over half a dozen times. The eight crew members were caught by the navy and coast guard for smuggling heroin.

 All the accused are in the custody of the Yellow Gate police. “They were to deliver the consignment to another boat in the sea and were heading towards Mumbai. However, the boat which was supposed to receive the consignment didn't come, since this boat was intercepted much earlier,“ said a source in the security establishment. The cops refused to divulge more details about the receivers. “We are probing it,“ said the cops.

The coast guard and navy had intercepted the Pakistani boat ferrying a huge quantity of heroin on April 20.
The heroin packets were hidden in plastic cans. Besides heroin, three satellite phones and global positioning systems were also recovered. The apprehended boat was brought to Porbandar on Tuesday .

“The cops are trying to establish the source of a seized Thurya phone used in the conversation of the fishermen with the suspected owners of the heroin. The fishermen have told us they were paid Rs 10,000 to deliver the consignment.They were promised Rs 10,000 more once it was delivered,“ said a police officer.





 The Times of India, April 29, 2015

8 Pak nationals caught with drugs in police custody

Mateen Hafeez / TNN





  Mumbai: The Yellow Gate police produced eight Pakistani nationals, arrested with 232 kg heroin worth Rs 6.93 crore, before a court on Monday . The magistrate remanded them in police custody till May 5. The Coast Guard and the Navy had intercepted a Pakistani boat that was ferrying a huge quantity of heroin on April 20. The heroin packets were hidden in plastic cans. Besides heroin, three satellite phones and global positioning systems were also recovered.

The latest communication system was being used to facilitate transshipment of the contraband to another boat, coast guard sources said.

The apprehended boat was brought to Porbandar by the authorities on Tuesday . Those arrested were identified as Karachi resident Mohmmad Yusuf (40), Mohmmad Ahmed (28), a Punjab resident, Maqsood Akhtar, and five residents of Sindh province, including Alibakhsh Allahbakhsh (30), Gulshan Siddique (40), Bakhsh Natho (40), Gulshan Maulabakhsh (30) and Yunus Sutar (35).
The accused told the police that they were fishermen and were paid Rs 10,000 to deliver packets, contents of which were unknown to them.

The police said they needed to find out where the consignment was to be delivered and who were the recipients.A Thuraya satellite phone was recovered and it was their handler in Pakistan and the suspected people in India whom the accused were in touch with. The police still don't know who owned the boat which the ferried the suspects and the consignment. It neither had a flag nor any name. The accused are facing a criminal case under various IPC sections, Narcotic Substances and Psychotropic Substances Act and Maritime Laws.

The police are trying to establish if the consignment was supposed to be delivered in Mumbai. However, the city police have denied having any such information from the security agencies.

THE TIMES OF INDIA, APRIL 28, 2015

Charas-tainted police officer ratted on meow meow cop

Mateen Hafeez

Mumbai: 



A suspended police inspector who had been caught for possession of charas was the one to provide information on the possession of mephedrone by constable Dharma Kalokhe of the Marine Drive police station. The officer also gave information on Kalokhe's lover Baby Patankar, who is a drug dealer, to the police.
Investigators suspect that the informant inspector himself had been caught because of a tip-off by Patankar and so, wanted to settle scores. The police had seized 12 kg of mephedrone worth Rs 2.4 crore from Kalokhe's almirah at the Marine Drive police station.

“While going through the call data records of Baby, the police found a number that emerged in the CDR frequently and when the officers inquired about the number it turned out to be of a suspended inspector's,“ an officer said. “When he was summoned for inquiry , he admitted that he had befriended Baby and would also take her for Vipassana programmes.“
Investigators found that Kalokhe would act as a liaison person for Patankar during her deals, said officers.

The Satara police had arrested Kalokhe on March 9, from his hometown in that district and recovered 110 kg of the banned narcotic from his home. He was later handed over to the city police.
Kalokhe told his interrogators that he had known Patankar since 1996, and in the recent past had helped her get drugs.

The Times of India, April 7, 2015

`Kalokhe giving various versions'





Mumbai: The Marine Drive police, interrogating constable Dharma Kalokhe in connection with possession of drugs, said Kalokhe has made several claims, including that the 12kg mephedrone found in his official cupboard was given by a customs officer.
Kalokhe was arrested by the Satara police on March 9 and 110kg of the drug was recovered from his hometown. A police team searched his official cupboard in the Marine Drive police station and found 12kg of the drug and two liquor bottles. Foreign currencies were recovered from Kalokhe.
He was produced before the Esplanade court on Wednesday and remanded in police custody till April 1.

“He has been changing his version. He said he came in contact with a drug peddler, Baby Patankar, in 1996, while he was with Worli police station and had a relationship with her,“ said an officer.
Kalokhe told investigators that Baby was in trouble with a customs official and wanted to hide a chemical, so she handed it to him a month ago. “He also named another constable, `Mane' from another branch, who was to originally keep the chemicals,“ the officer said.

Kalokhe had brought the 12kg consignment worth Rs 2.4 crore in instalments to the police station. “Last month, Kalokhe travelled with Baby to Goa and later transported the drugs to Satara. Kalokhe told police that Baby had fought with his wife and might have tipped off the police. We have also frozen four fixed deposits of Baby for Rs 1.4 crore,“ the officer said. -

 Mateen Hafeez

 

The Times of India, March 26, 2015

Meow-Meow constable's boss transferred out, girlfriend supplied drugs found in home, office

Mateen Hafeez





Mumbai: Senior inspector Pravin Chinchalkar of the Marine Drive police station has been transferred out following the arrest of head constable Dharma Karokhe after 12kg of a banned drug was found in his office locker.
Chinchalkar, who has a reputation of being a sincere officer, was on Wednesday sent to the Special Branch, considered to be the city police's intelligence backbone, but seen as a `punishment posting'. The Satara police had on Monday detained and later arrested Karokhe, a 1987 batch constable, after they recovered 110kg of Mephedrone, or Meow-Meow, worth around Rs 21 crore from his house in Kanheri village in Khandala taluka, Satara. He was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. If proved guilty, Karokhe may be imprisoned for 10-20 years and fined up to Rs 1 lakh.

Soon after the city police were informed about Karokhe's detention in Satara, they searched his personal locker at Marine rive police station and found 12kg Mephedrone and two bottles of liquor.The drug and the liquor were seized in the presence of two witnesses. Police chief Rakesh Maria has ordered dismissal proceedings against Karokhe.“The report will be sent to the police commissioner within a day or two,“ said a senior police officer. A separate case under the NDPS Act has been registered against Karokhe in Mumbai.

During interrogation, Karokhe told the police that he used to get the drug from his girlfriend, Baby Patankar, a known drug dealer in Mumbai.Several narcotic cases have been registered against her. “I used to sell the drug through my sources,“ Karokhe reportedly told the police. Police are on the lookout for Baby. The police have searched Karokhe's Mumbai home, but haven't found anything.

Drawing a lesson from the recovery of drugs from Karokhe's locker, top police officers have decided to order checks on the official cupboards and vehicles of police personnel at regular intervals.

Karokkhe was part of the intelligence wing of the Marine Drive police station and was entrusted to collect intelli gence from mills and unions.He was on a 10-day leave as “his father had passed away“. He had been transferred to the Malabar Hill police station, but his Marine Drive senior officers had not relieved him.

Mephedrone is a psychotropic substance and was included in the NDPS Act in February . Almost a decade ago, another Marine Drive police constable, Sunil More, had been dismissed after his arrest on charges of raping a college girl inside a police chowky . He was convicted and imprisoned for 12 years.

Minister promises action against cops

Mephedrone made an `appearance' in the legislature on Wednesday. Minister of state for home (urban) Rajneet Patil said the government will probe any police personnel found in possession of the banned drug. He also said that the transport license of Konduskar Travels will be cancelled and an inquiry conducted against them as the drug was found in one of their buses. TNN


TIMES VIEW:
Something is seriously wrong with the force when 12 kg of a drug, recently included on the NDPS list and which can cost up to Rs 2.4 crore in the market, is found stashed inside a police station. Seniors have already initiated a probe but it must go beyond this one case and get to the root of the malaise.





The Times of India, March 12, 2015

12 more kg of drugs found in cop's office cupboard

Mateen Hafeez I TNN





Mumbai: A day after Mumbai police head constable Dharma Karokhe was found in possession of 110kg of Mephedrone at his Satara residence, the city police and the narcotics cell on Tuesday recovered 12kg of the drug from his cupboard at the Marine Drive police station. Karokhe was arrested and has been remanded in police custody till March 16.
Karokhe, investigators suspected, used to peddle drugs from the police station. Many heads are likely to roll and proceedings for his dismissal have begun. A probe has also been ordered into how he smuggled the drugs into the police station without anyone's knowledge.

Mephedrone is a psychotropic substance and was brought under the NDPS Act in February .
The Satara police informed their Mumbai counterparts soon after they detained Ka rokhe and found the drug consignment at his house. A team led by additional commissioner of police (south region) Krishna Prakash, in the presence of two government witnesses, searched the cupboard.
Police commissioner Rakesh Maria has directed initiation of action under Article 311 (2) for Karokhe's dismissal.

Almost a decade ago, Marine Drive constable Sunil More was dismissed after his arrest for raping a college girl at the chowky , and he was sentenced to 12 years in jail.

Karokhe, part of the Marine Drive police station's intelligence wing, was on 10 days leave, claiming his father had passed away .

Meanwhile, the Customs preventive unit (Pune) on Tuesday arrested Ayub Makarandar, Ravindra Konduskar and Nasir Sanghi in the 405kg Mephedrone seizure case. All have been remanded in custody for 14 days.

The Times of India, March 11, 2015

Sri Lankan drug peddler arrested in Navi Mumbai

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: Anti-terrorism squad (ATS) sleuths on Tuesday arrested a Sri Lankan drug peddler, with suspected links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE).

The peddler, Rajan Silithuria alias Rajan alias Kartik (45), was hiding in Kopar Khairane in Navi Mumbai. “Our Thane unit arrested Kartik after we received information that he was hiding in Navi Mumbai. We are interrogating him,” said ATS deputy commissioner of police, Pradip Sawant.

Kartik, police sources said, did not have any business or known sources of income in Navi Mumbai. “We suspect he was using illegal money obtained through drug-peddling,” an officer said.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Chennai had seized three kg heroin at the international airport, but Kartik had managed to flee from there. A Chennai court had issued a non bailable warrant against him, too. “He fled from Chennai and came to Mumbai after the case. He was staying in Matunga, Chembur and then went on to Navi Mumbai. “We are also questioning him for links with the LTTE or any other terror organization. He could have come to India for shelter (from the Lankan authorities) and began drug-peddling. We will hand him over to the Chennai narcotics control bureau,” the officer said.

The Times of India, March 17, 2011

40L cocaine seized

3 NIGERIANS HELD

Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai: The anti-narcotics cell (ANC) of the city crime branch arrested three Nigerian nationals on Friday night when they had gone to deliver one kg cocaine to buyers near a bar in Bandra (W). The police seized cocaine worth Rs 40 lakh from them.

“We nabbed Agodi Ifinasis (58), Johny Ocako (45) and Julius Offroom when they reached near the bar. They wanted to hand over the drugs to the buyers. We are investigating further,” said deputy commissioner of police Sunil Paraskar. He said that the police were trying to find out who the potential buyers of the drug wereIn 2007, Offroom was arrested in Mumbai for possession of 20 gm of cocaine. Only two of the total number of accused were Indians. As many as 36 Nigerians, seven Tanzanians, two Nepalese, an Iranian and a Ghanaian national were arrested. In 23 cases last year, the police had seized drugs worth Rs 7.87 crore.

The Times of India, October 24, 2010

Ex-home guard, peddler held with 150 kg ganja

Mateen Hafeez I TNN

Mumbai: The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the city police recently arrested a former home guard and a drug trafficker allegedly carrying 150 kg of ganja.

Former home guard Vinod Andhale (27) and Subhash Chauhan (32), a drug trafficker from Andhra Pradesh, were arrested on Tuesday after their vehicle was intercepted by ANC officials on the Eastern Express Highway in Mulund. “Andhale had hired a jeep from Mumbai and drove it to Ahmednagar. He then went to Andhra Pradesh where the duo loaded the drugs. They came to Mumbai to supply the contraband to their accomplices,’’ said DCP Sunil Paraskar of the ANC.

The accused had concealed ganja worth over Rs 4.5 lakh in a cavity in the backseat of the car, ANC officials said. The arrested accused have been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Andhale, a resident of Ekta Cooperative housing society in Mulund, was driving the jeep. “Andhale has told us that it was his first trip to Andhra Pradesh. However, we have to find out how he got in touch with the drug mafia and how much commission he would get for each deal,’’ said an ANC official.

Last year, the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) had arrested an IPS officer, Saji Mohan, who had come to Mumbai, allegedly to supply heroin. Mohan was the zonal director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) at the time of his arrest.

The ATS claimed to have seized over 39 kg heroin from Mohan and his two associates. In 2009, the ANC arrested over 900 persons including 137 women for possessing and smuggling drugs and narcotics worth over Rs 5 crore were seized.

The Times of India, January 8, 2010

Reformed addicts to crack down on raves

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: The Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) has convinced around five dozen “reformed’’ drug addicts to help them crack down on New Year’s eve rave parties and other get-togethers where substance abuse may be rampant. P Sunil Paraskar, the deputy commissioner of police, said: “We will take the help of youngsters who were caught in different rave parties in the past. They know their way around the party circuit where often people tend to peddle or consume drugs. The enlisted were earlier caught for taking drugs but later realised that their habit was ruining their lives, so they quit.’’

The ANC has vowed to leave no pub or hotel unturned in their quest. “We are also monitoring those parties that are charging huge amounts of money for tickets. We will not allow the use of drugs at any cost,’’ said Paraskar.

The ANC has a staff of 120 policemen including 20 officers in its five units at Worli, Azad Maidan, Ghatkopar, Bandra and Kandivli. “Special squads will be equipped with spy cameras,’’ said Paraskar.

A network of informers has been activated to tip the police off. “This time round, we will
rope in an additional force of policewomen to keep tabs on female peddlers and consumers,’’ said an officer.

This year, the ANC arrested 2009 men and 188 women for drug peddling, possession and consumption. In 2008, drugs amounting to Rs 2 crore were seized; in 2009, the figure crossed Rs 5 crore.

The Times of India, December 30, 2009

No cash to perk up informants

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: The war against drugs has run into a fund crunch: the anti-narcotics cell (ANC) set up by Mumbai police is finding it difficult to cough up money to pay informants on the street.

Enforcement authorities usually set up a secret fund to suss out information on drug cartels and the movement of contraband. Informants, mostly petty criminals or one-time peddlers, are rewarded for providing specific tip-offs or clues pointing to the arrival of, say, a large quantity of drugs in a particular city.

Sources in the ANCtold TOI that the frequency of raids has been dipping for a while, a clear indicator to the fact that scanty intelligence is emanating from Mumbai’s streets. For the last one month, not a single raid has been carried out by the team.

“We raid or arrest when we get a tip. Nowadays there is shortage of informants in drug cases,’’ an officer said, alluding to the difficulty of finding information without making pay-offs.

What’s worse, unless the top brass of the police sanctions discretionary funds for use, there is little the ANC can do about it.

Inspector general of police K P Raghuvanshi, who now heads the ANC, however, maintained that his cell was not facing a fund shortage. “Whenever a special unit needs money to procure information, it is alloted by the police chief. I have paid over Rs 70,000 to officers of the ANC since I took charge a few months ago,’’ he said.

But Raghuvanshi did admit the need to “re-organise the department’’ and beef up facilities. “We want quality officers to get posted here and have better telecom links like GPS/GIS to gather intelligence,’’ he said.

His subordinates even crib about lack of “incentives’’ to step up the crackdown on drug cartels. Under the law, they are entitled to 10% of the total value of every seizure, but often they are deprived of this reward.

The Times of India, June 7, 2006

City’s street kids under scanner

By Mateen Hafeez/TNN

Mumbai: The anti-narcotics cell is keeping a close vigil on city’s street children, especially after cops discovered that these kids were being used as drug carriers in the city. Though no child has been nabbed so far in the drug smuggling case this year, the police, however, is confident that the smuggling is done with their help. Police said that the use of street kids as drug carriers was revealed during the course of their investigations and admitted that it’s difficult to gauge the total narcotic consignment which is smuggled into the city every month.

Around 60% of the said narcotic is consumed by the street children themselves. The smuggled opium and brownsugar are packed into small packets, ranging from 10 gm to 100 gm, mainly in slums, police officials revealed.

The anti-narcotics cell, sometime ago, had arrested an 18-year-old boy who was given the job of packing brown sugar in shoe sole in Bandra. A drug carrier would wear these shoes and go to Gulf countries where he would deliver the consignment. S M Zarekar, DCP, anti-narcotics cell, said that presently the narcotic is being smuggled into the city from states like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. “Most of the local businessmen in UP, MP and Rajasthan who have licence to cultivate Poppy—used as an ingredient for manufacturing medicines—help in manufacturing narcotics,’’ Zarekar said.

The Times of India, June 10, 2005