The Sahar police have busted an international drug racket that was allegedly being operated from a jail in Mauritius. The modus operandi came to light following the arrest of three people — all “big fishes” in the drug mafia — after Sudhakar Pujari, one of their associates, fell unconscious at the airport after the cocaine capsules he had swallowed burst open in his stomach.
The three are Ashfaque, Zahid Kabli and one Uncle.
Ashfaque’s brother Babbu and Uncle’s nephew Gouri Shankar are currently serving a sentence in a Mauritius jail in a narcotics case.
That is where they met the brother of a Tanzanian drug dealer. Since Babbu wanted money for his release, the trio hatched the plan to smuggle drugs.
“Babbu got in touch with his brother who roped in Zahid and Uncle who procured the drugs,” said Brijesh Singh, deputy commissioner of police (Zone 8).
Police said that the duo misused the mobile phones from the jail, which is allowed for a specific time for undertrials to talk to their lawyers. That’s how they were running the drug racket, investigations revealed.
Investigations revealed that Uncle, who was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in 1998, had come out of prison just three months ago.
Ashfaque and Uncle identified Pujari as the conduit. They stuffed the cocaine in small capsules and made him swallow them in a hutment in Mahim.
The police also recovered about 300 grams of brown
sugar from Zahid, which he had concealed underneath his shoe sole. He was planning to smuggle the narcotics to Tanzania.
“Zahid claims to be a textile merchant and has made several foreign trips, particularly to Tanzania and Mauritius,” added Singh.
