Cops arrest three with cocaine worth Rs60 lakh

Nagpur: In the biggest drug bust in the city in recent times, city crime branch officials seized cocaine worth Rs60 lakh from three people, including a student of Bachelor of Computer Application. The youths were rounded up from Manewada Square while they were searching for customers. Among the arrested accused, Tushar Hande, 22, a resident of Shravan Nagar, is a BCA student while other two are identified as Pramod Rawle, 33, a resident of Pawan Shakti Nagar and 23-year-old Mahendra Ladurkar of Rajendra Square.
DCP Ranjan Kumar Sharma said that his team headed by police inspector Deepak Khobragade under the guidance of ACP Nilesh Raut was tipped off about a few youths finding a dealer to sell drugs. “Our punters were asked to keep an eye on the suspected people and the trap was successful,” told Sharma, while briefing the media persons at the crime branch office on Wednesday.
Sharma told that on the basis of the tip-off, Khobragade split his staff PSI Narendra Giri, ASI Mushtaq Shaikh, head constables Rajesh Thakur, Dharmendra Sarode and others at suspected places in search of the accused.
“Hande and other two were found in possession of packets having pink powder in them. Police searched all three youths and found one kg of white powder with them,” told police. A drug detection kit test revealed that the powder was cocaine. The trio was later taken to the crime branch office for interrogation. A case under Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act has been registered against the accused at Ajni police station. Police also seized a bike from the trio.
Though the trio is still under interrogation to find where they got the drug from and where they had planned to sell it, during preliminary investigations, the youths told police that they found the cocaine at Bhandewadi dumping yard two years ago. “This is not a satisfactory answer and our questioning is still underway,” Sharma said. Police told that the trio had found a dealer at Manewada Square and were about to sell it when the police nabbed them. Cops said that it seems that the accused are not regular drug smugglers. “The youths did not know that the street rate of the amount of cocaine they had was Rs60 lakh as they were trying to sell it for Rs10 lakh. One gram of cocaine goes for about Rs6,000,” sources said.