Mumbai court convicts five in narcotics case

Mumbai: The Special NDPS court in Thane held five people guilty in a Jan 2021 drug trafficking case where the officials in separate raids seized narcotics, cash, gold ornaments and an unlicenced pistol.

One of the accused, Arif Yaqoob Bhujwala, was sentenced to 15 years and imposed a fine of Rs 2 lakh. Parvez Khan alias “Chinku Pathan”, Mohammed Salman Khan and financier Vikrant Jain alias “Vicky Jain” were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment along with fines of Rs 50,000 each. Another accused, Haris Faizullah Khan, was handed a one year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000.

On Jan 20, 2021, during the raid at a storage area in Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai, officials recovered 52.2 grams of Mephedrone, an unlicensed pistol with five live cartridges, cash and gold ornaments valued at Rs 3.57 lakh. Follow-up searches at Noor Manzil in Chinchbunder led to the seizure of 5.375 kg of Mephedrone, 990 grams of Methamphetamine and 6.126 kg of Ephedrine, a precursor chemical used in manufacturing synthetic drugs. Officials also recovered another illegal firearm and cash amounting to Rs 2.18 crore, suspected to be proceeds from drug trafficking. The probe showed that the contraband had allegedly been supplied by Arif Bhujwala, who was operating a synthetic drug trafficking network from Chinchbunder. Officials said Salman Khan was involved in procuring contraband from Parvez Khan and distributing it within the local drug network. A raid at his premises led to the seizure of 10.5 grams of Mephedrone along with packaging material and weighing instruments. The probe also uncovered the involvement of Vikrant Jain, who allegedly financed drug trafficking activities while also participating in distribution. Searches at his Bhiwandi premises resulted in the seizure of 52.8 grams of Mephedrone mixed with tobacco products and Rajnigandha sachets. Financial records recovered during the searches allegedly established his role in funding the narcotics trade. NCB officials later arrested Haris Faizullah Khan, who was found with 3 grams of Mephedrone and was allegedly linked to the wider trafficking network.

Properties worth more than Rs 1.5 crore belonging to Parvez Khan were attached and later confirmed by the Competent Authority under Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators Act (SAFEMA. In the case of kingpin Mohammed Arif Bhujwala, authorities attached cash, eight movable properties and four immovable properties collectively valued at over Rs 5 crore.