Rs 34cr drug racket busted in Kalyan, externed ‘kingpin’ among 5 held

Kalyan: The Kalyan DCP zone-III squad has busted a major narcotics racket worth over Rs 34 crore and arrested five persons, including the alleged kingpin, who has been externed from Thane and was out on bail in a murder case. Police called it one of the biggest drug seizures in Thane region in recent times.

They said three brothers—alleged kingpin Amjad, Barkat and Rehmat Pathan—operated a large-scale interstate drug trafficking network from Kalyan through their ‘Pathan gang’ that has supply links across the country and possible international connections. Officials said Amjad, who faces MCOCA charges in a 2020 case of an alleged matka operator’s murder, was released on bail two years ago and shifted base to Nashik after being externed.

Last month, a team led by zone-III DCP Atul Zende and assistant police inspector Anil Gaikwad caught two suspects—Qasim Sattar Vasaikar (38) and Krishna Naggappa Halemadi (36)—in Kalyan’s Sanglewadi with two bags allegedly containing over 9kg of heroin worth around Rs 32.3 crore. Police later allegedly recovered 532gm more of heroin worth nearly Rs 2 crore from Vasaikar’s home in Shahapur, Thane.

Additional commissioner of police Sanjay Jadhav said the suspects’ interrogation led them to another gang member, Saddam Sheikh (32), from Kalyan. The suspects revealed that Amjad had instructed them to deliver the drugs to a Sion resident, Ganeshan Jangmar alias Anna (71), said Jadhav. Zende said Amjad was arrested last week.

Police are now probing the gang’s interstate supply chain, financial transactions and alleged foreign links.

They said Amjad has been named in 20 criminal cases in Maharashtra, MP and Rajasthan, including three for murder and multiple drugs offences. Mumbai’s anti-narcotics cell alone has four cases against him, officials said. One of the most chilling cases against Amjad relates to the 2012 murder of his own gang member, Haris alias Bittu Sultan Shah, who was allegedly accused of stealing 30kg of charas from a consignment. Sources said Shah was allegedly tortured to death, and his body burnt and dumped in Igatpuri’s forests in an attempt to destroy evidence.