Karnataka man from Manipur held with opium worth Rs 11.17 lakh
Source: Hueiyen News Service / Agencies
Imphal/Pune, May 25 2013 :
The anti-narcotics cell of the Pune police crime branch has arrested a Karnataka native residing in Manipur, along with the driver and the cleaner of a private bus for alleged involvement in transporting opium worth Rs 11.17 lakh from Nagpur to Pune.
Police identified the suspects as Santosh Chanbasappa Ratkalkar (38), a native of Karnataka currently residing in Imphal in Manipur, driver Eknath Ganpat Ghadge (40), a resident Ahmednagar, and cleaner Jitnedra Sahebrao Jadhav (23) of Beed.
Police seized the luxury bus of a private travel firm in which the contraband was being transported.
Investigation is on to find out if Ratkalkar is associated with 'narco-terrorism' and whether he has any links to insurgent groups or organised crime syndicates in Northeast.
Acting on a tip-off to inspector Sunil Tambe, a police team laid a trap and nabbed Ratkalkar from the bus parked at Sangamwadi on Thursday.
Police recovered 7,450 gram opium worth Rs 11,17,500 from him.
Ghadge and Jadhav were arrested as police suspected them to have helped Ratkalkar in transporting the contraband.
The suspects have been booked under the relevant Sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Police said that Ratkalkar had come to Pune from Karnataka a few years ago but he married a Manipuri girl following which he settled in Imphal.
"Investigation revealed that Ratkalkar came to Nagpur from Assam by train and boarded the luxury bus to Pune.
Investigation is on to find out from where he procured the opium and to whom Ratkalkar had intended supplying the contraband," said Deputy Commissioner of police (EOW and Cyber) Sanjay Shinde.
On the other hand, volunteers of ANJUMAN, a local body, and Lilong Police seized Spasma Proxyvon capsules worth about Rs.20,000 from a person at Lilong Chingkham Makha Leikai today.
The alleged drug trafficker has been identified as one Md Tashir Khan (30), s/o (late) Abdus Hakim of Lilong Chingkham.