Peddler cabbie’s arrest leads to Gujarat drug lab bust

Mumbai: A 26-year-old app cab driver who allegedly moonlighted as a drug supplier has led Mumbai police to a Gujarat-based ‘drug lab’ from where she sourced narcotics.Police arrested the driver, Muskaan Khan, and habitual narco-offender and alleged manufacturer Wajiul Kamal Chaudhari (56) and confiscated a stash of 20kg of liquid mephedrone (MD) worth Rs 74 crore from the drug lab.A Sakinaka police team was tipped off about Khan and kept a watch on her. Khan, who resides in the Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road belt, used to supply drugs in the western suburbs, particularly Sakinaka. She was nabbed on May 21 with 101gm of MD. Police said Khan had been an app cab driver for the past three years. She used to visit clubs in Mumbai, where she once came in contact with Chaudhari. After sourcing drugs from him, she sold them for a 30-40% profit, police said.The police team, led by DCP Datta Nalawade and comprising officers Pankaj Pardeshi and Dayanand Vanve, made inquiries with Khan. She led them to a drug lab in Gujarat’s Narmada district where MD was being manufactured. On May 26, police raided the drug lab and picked up Chaudhari, who had taken the premises on lease. Besides liquid MD, police found a stash of chemicals, flasks, heating metals and other apparatus from Chaudhari.“The seized liquid mephedrone was sent to the state forensic science laboratory for verification. The forensic laboratory has confirmed its authenticity,” said Nalawade.Police said Chaudhari, a habitual narco-offender, had the know-how to manufacture MD. He was caught with 21 quintals of charas in 2001 and spent the next 10 years in prison in Moradabad, UP. In 2017, DRI had arrested him at Palghar with 238kg of MD, estimated to be worth several thousands of crores. He stayed behind bars till 2023 in Thane prison. Once out of prison, he started manufacturing MD.Police said Chaudhari is a college dropout and is a part of an organised gang of distributors of narcotics. After manufacturing MD, he personally delivered it to the outskirts of Mumbai, where it was picked up by different suppliers. Police are investigating the next link of suppliers and final consumers of the drug.