Two wanted for drug trafficking in Maharashtra held in Lucknow

Palghar, Mar 25 (PTI) Police have arrested two persons in Lucknow in connection with a drug trafficking case in Maharashtra's Palghar district, officials said on Wednesday.
    The accused were allegedly involved in supplying narcotics at pubs, hotels and private parties in Maharashtra, they said.

    The Special Task Force (STF), Lucknow, in a release, said it arrested the duo near a tempo stand at Charbagh railway station in the Uttar Pradesh capital on Monday.

    The accused have been identified as Bhavesh Chauhan alias Lalu, hailing from Hardoi in UP and residing at Nalasopara in Palghar district, and Shoaib Ashraf Pathan alias Batla, also a resident of Nalasopara, the STF said.

    They were wanted in connection with a case registered at Naigaon police station in Palghar under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
    "Acting on specific inputs, the STF team arrested both the accused from the Charbagh area while they were attempting to flee," the release said.
    During interrogation, the accused told the police that they had been involved in interstate drug trafficking for the past four to five years, the STF said.


    "The accused disclosed that they, along with their associates, used to manufacture brown sugar using chemicals available in the market and supplied it at pubs, hotels and private parties," the release said.



    The accused also told the police that they were trying to escape from Mumbai and travel to Nepal via Lucknow after a drug consignment linked to them was seized in the Vasai-Virar Mira-Bhayander area here on February 5, it said.
    Chauhan has multiple criminal cases registered against him, including under the NDPS Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at various police stations in the Vasai-Virar area, the release said.

    The operation to apprehend them was carried out in coordination with the Naigaon police, which had approached the STF for assistance after receiving inputs that the accused were hiding in Lucknow, it said.

    Further investigation is underway, the release added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)