Mephedrone worth Rs 20 crore seized in Pune; 5 arrested
"Since all these accused are linked to the pharma trading business, we are investigating whether they were doing drug trade under that grab," said Prakash.
Pune: Police have seized 20 kg of mephedrone, a banned synthetic drug, worth Rs 20 crore and arrested five people in Pune district, an official said on Thursday.
It is suspected that the accused were dealing in drugs under the garb of pharmaceutical trade, said a senior police official.
The seizure was made near Shel Pimpalgaon village on Chakan-Shikrapur Road, 45 km from here, on Wednesday afternoon, he said.
Acting on a tip-off that five persons would arrive to sell the contraband, the police laid a trap in the area and nabbed them, said Krishna Prakash, Commissioner of Police, Pimpri Chinchwad.
"They were arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act," he said, adding that a car was also seized from the accused''s possession.
The accused were identified as Chetan Dandwate, Anandgir Gosavi, Akshay Kale, Sanjivkumar Bansiraut and Tausif Taslim.
Read also: RAID: Drugs, heroin worth Rs 30 lakh seized in Delhi, 1 arrested
"Since all these accused are linked to the pharma trading business, we are investigating whether they were doing drug trade under that garb," said Prakash.
"We are also probing from where they were procuring it and where it was being manufactured and where were they distributing," the police commissioner added.
Read also: Pharma wholesaler arrested for remdesivir black marketing in Gujarat
