Paan stall owner arrested for selling drug laced paan

Pune: The Pimpri Chinchwad crime branch late Friday night arrested a paan stall owner from Walhekarwadi for allegedly selling drug-laced paan. A grocery shop owner from Rajasthan, who supplied the contraband, was also held.Police seized contraband worth Rs 56,800 from Dnyaneshwar Wankhede (25). The arrests were made by an anti-narcotics cell team led by senior police inspector Mahesh Patil.The action follows two recent crackdowns by the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad crime branches. On March 13, Pune police raided a paan stall in Lonikalbhor selling drug-laced paan. On March 14, in a joint operation, the two forces arrested a Hinjewadi-based couple for manufacturing the powder mixed in paan, and seized contraband and equipment worth Rs 6.63 lakh.Patil told TOI that the drug-laced paan is commonly known as ‘Kadak-Fulchand Paan'. People eat this paan to get more high. "We got a tip-off that this paan was available at the paan stall at Walhekarwadi. We raided the paan stall and seized the contraband substance worth Rs 56,800 from the stall."During the questioning, the paan stall owner Wankhede revealed that a grocery shop owner from Rahatani supplied it. We arrested the grocery shop owner Mohanlal Bhati (55) from Rahatani," Patil said.The officer said that the police verified the powder at a private lab and found contraband substances like methamphetamine, opiates and others. "The accused used to mix these synthetic drugs into tobacco powder and used to sell to different paan stalls," the officer said.Patil said that the police sent the powder to a forensic lab to know the exact contents of the powder. "Our investigations are on," Patil said.The officer said that the anti-narcotics cell is constantly keeping watch on such illegal activities. "We will continue our action against such paan stalls," the officer said.