NAVI MUMBAI: The Panvel district sessions court for NDPS Act case recently convicted and sentenced three drug peddlers to 12 years in jail with Rs 1 lakh penalty. In case the accused default in paying the penalty, they will have to suffer an additional 2 years in jail, as pronounced by judge RG Asmar.
In March 2018, the trio were arrested by Navi Mumbai crime branch central unit team in Taloja after they were found transporting around 100kg ganja worth Rs 5 lakh which was found hidden in the boot of their Skoda car. The accused were identified as Amir Ahmed Munir Ahmed (32), Suraj Ahmed Riyaz Ahmed Choudhary (28) and Mohammad Usman Siddiqui (38), all residents of Mumbra.
They were booked at Taloja police station under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
API Pradeep Sarfare of crime branch central unit said, "The chargesheet was filed in the Panvel court by investigating officer PSI Amit Shelar, who is now attached to Mumbai ATS. On March 15, 2018, we had received a tip-off that some men would be transporting a huge contraband of ganja along the Mumbra-Panvel road. We laid a trap at Taloja junction. Around 6pm, a suspicious Skoda car was intercepted. Three men, including the driver, were asked to step down from the vehicle and told them to open the car's boot as routine checking. When checked, the car's boot contained a huge consignment of ganja packed in plastic bags and sheets. The narcotics weighed around 100 kg, whose market value is estimated to around Rs 5 lakh.”
He said, “Since the arrest of the trio, they are lodged in Taloja jail for the past four years. During their interrogation, they had revealed that the ganja supplier was from Vishakhapatnam. Accordingly, our crime branch team had gone there, but the supplier could not be traced.”
