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The Mumbai unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has seized around 260 grams of heroin and 22 grams of cocaine from a Nigerian national at Koparkhairane in Navi Mumbai. The federal agency is questioning the accused after registering a case against him. “Heroin is an opioid drug made from morphine, a natural substance in the seedpod of the Asian poppy plant. It can be mixed with water and injected with a needle. It’s very addictive and is covered under NDPS Act, 1985,” said NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede on Friday.
The drug law enforcement agency’s actions come against the backdrop of its continuing investigations into an alleged Bollywood drug nexus that were initiated after the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput last year. A number of top celebrities, including Deepika Padukone, Arjun Rampal, Shraddha Kapoor, and Sara Ali Khan have been questioned in this phase. The NCB arrested actor and former Bigg Boss contestant Ajaz Khan on March 31, a day after he was detained for questioning over restricted drugs found at his Mumbai home. The agency said it had found alprazolam tablets from his residence during searches in the city’s Andheri and Lokhandwala areas.
In another operation, the central agency, based on an input, seized 55 grams of mephedrone from a person identified as Nasir Samiruddin at Navchetanya Mandal in Jogeshwari, Mumbai. A case has been registered and the accused is being investigated to ascertain further links, said a source from the NCB on Friday. Mephedrone is also known as 4-methyl methcathinone (4-MMC) or 4-methyl ephedrone, and is a synthetic stimulant drug of the amphetamine and cathinone classes. It comes as tablets or a powder, which users can swallow, snort or inject, producing effects similar to those of MDMA, amphetamines and cocaine.
Since January 2021, the NCB has carried out a string of operations and has intercepted seven foreign nationals belonging to various countries, nabbed them with different kinds of drugs, including, in some cases, in commercial quantities.
