Financial Stress Pushes Techie Into Drug Trade, Gets Arrested With Marijuana

Mumbai Police¡¯s crime branch arrested a 25-year-old engineer along with his 32-year-old aide, on November 5, for drug peddling. 9 kg of imported marijuana worth Rs 1.62 crore was found on them, as per a TNN report. After getting a tip, an anti-narcotic cell team with inspector Anil Wadhawane in charge took into custody Yash G Kalani, a software engineer, and Guru Jaiswal, an auto-rickshaw driver.

Kalani told police he entered the drug trade after his finances took a beating during the lockdown.

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¡°Kalani would order a sizeable amount of drugs from the supplier in the US. Once the shipment reached Mumbai, he would supply them to his clients in the city through auto drivers such as Jaiswal and pay them a commission. He would also send the drugs to New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Pune through mail and courier,¡± said Wadhawane as per a Hindustan Times report.

He used Wickr to establish contact with his client, the inspector added, and said that the daily score was around Rs 1 lakh.

Police have registered a case under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

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They are searching for others involved in this racket.

Sadly it is not an isolated incident as several people down on their luck in the lockdown have resorted to easy means of making money.

In another incident, the UP Special Task Force (STF) claimed to nab a gang involved in smuggling narcotics. They arrested four people in the district of Sonbhadra.

A total of 800 kg of ganja worth Rs 1 crore was recovered. The accused were identified as Biran Singh, Pravesh Yadav, Rajendra Jaiswal and Jitendra Pratap Singh, all from UP, as per the STF's statement.