A Navi Mumbai resident abroad, Naveen Chichkar, is the puppet master of the drug cartel and has been running the cartel through his handlers. A massive drug cartel, which is reportedly India’s biggest, was busted by the Mumbai Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), and six individuals connected with it have been arrested.
The cartel, dominated by highly educated individuals, has sold drugs worth approximately Rs 1,128 crore throughout the country in the past two years, according to officials. The police said that the kingpin of the drug cartel is a Navi Mumbai resident living abroad, Naveen Chichkar. He has been running the cartel through his henchmen all these years, the police added. Chichkar has a degree in Criminal Psychology and also did a course in Film and Television from London. He is absconding.
Three other individuals arrested in the case are also educated abroad, officials stated. The cartel sells cocaine and hybrid strain hydroponic marijuana. The drugs are imported into Mumbai by air cargo from the US and distributed throughout the country, sources added. Part of the drugs were also exported to Australia, they added.
Police added that NCB officials identified the origin of smuggling in Mumbai based on technical as well as human intelligence on January 1. During the investigation into the case, police found that accused persons have sold at least 80 to 90 kg of cocaine and approximately 60 kg of hybrid strain hydroponic weed in the past two years.
The officials have arrested H Patel, a 30-year-old Hawala operator, and H Mane, a trader, from Navi Mumbai. Hawala is a traditional and informal means of transferring money without physical movement. The two operators used to sell the drugs nationwide, and the money obtained from it was shared among the operators.
Police have also seized 11.540 kg of extremely high-grade cocaine, 4.9 kg of hybrid strain hydroponic grass, 200 packets (5.5 kg) of cannabis gummies, and Rs 1,60,000 in cash from Navi Mumbai.
