War on drugs: Yavatmal cops bust narcotics trail spanning 3 states

Nagpur: Yavatmal police busted a web of interstate narcotics trade across three states following raids in four districts (Yavatmal and Nagpur in Maharashtra, Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh, and Pratapgarh in Rajasthan). The raids over four days spanning around 2,000km in these states exposed drug trails that linked supply chains across central India. It has surfaced that MP's Neemuch district is the hub of interstate narcotics cartels supplying mephedrone (MD) powder to rest of the country. These hubs are known to supply MD at a rate cheaper than those being smuggled from outside and routed through Mumbai.Police found that drug lords of Mandsaur and Pratapgarh communicated in ‘code language'. Peddlers and drug lords hurriedly made changes on their mobile phones to send messages and alert others. One of the accused put his cellphone on ‘flight mode' after being arrested in an apparent attempt to provide any leads. Consequently, police found none of his accomplices at their den during the raids.The Yavatmal police team, led by SP Kumar Chintha, following a four-day operation in Mandsaur and Pratapgarh, arrested MD mafia Ayub Khan alias Ali — one of the key druglords of Mandsaur with a pan-India network — after seizing MD drugs worth more than Rs 3 lakh from him. Police sources said Ali was connected to Pratapgarh-based kingpin Shamsher, who is now on the run.Ali and Shamsher are known to prepare MD at locally set up laboratories using crude methods and employed semi-skilled labourers in the remote villages along MP and Rajasthan borders. Sources said these labourers had some background of having worked in a pharmaceutical or chemical factory and learnt raw techniques to form narcotics compounds using chemicals.Ali supplied MD and hashish to Nagpur-based shrine volunteer-turned-peddler Ishtiaq Khan — who also supplied MD to Wardha's Hinganghat. The Yavatmal police team led by inspector Satish Chavare and assistant PI Satish Manwar had arrested Ishtiyak on March 29 from his Nirmal Nagari residence in Nagpur. Police recovered MD worth around Rs 2.38 lakh from Ishtiaq, whose name was revealed by one of his peddlers, Abhay Gupta, who was caught on March 27 at Kalamb with MD worth around Rs 1 lakh.During interrogation, Ishtiaq and Gupta spoke about their network in Mandsaur and Pratapgarh. The police have been working on these leads after Ishtiaq's arrest, sources said. He is also known to be closely linked with other peddlers from Nagpur's Thakur Plot, Hasanbagh, and other areas. In the past, Nagpur police also arrested two persons from Rajasthan for supplying MD drugs to their city-based peddling rackets with the patronage of hardened gangsters. Around seven peddlers were arrested and MD worth more than Rs 50 lakh were seized earlier this year.