Thane (PTI): Maharashtra's Navi Mumbai township has seen a rise in drug related crimes with 654 such cases being registered this year compared to 475 in 2023, a senior police official said on Thursday.

The total value of contraband seized in these cases was Rs 33.27 crore against Rs 22.97 crore last year, according the official said citing the Navi Mumbai police's annual report.

As many as 939 persons were arrested in 2024 for offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, compared to 811 last year, he said.

Among those arrested, 58 were foreign nationals, predominantly Africans, marking a rise from 37 in 2023, the official said.

The contraband seized from foreign nationals this year was valued at Rs 25.70 crore, an increase from Rs 11.61 crore in 2023.

Among the seized drugs, cocaine accounted for the highest value at Rs 16.70 crore, a staggering increase from Rs 1.25 crore in 2023, the official said.

The police seized mephedrone (MD) valued at Rs 12.67 crore, up from Rs 9.33 crore last year, while the MDMA seizure rose to Rs 29.98 lakh from Rs 22.10 lakh in 2023, he said.

The seizures of ganja and brown sugar were also high, with the values increasing to Rs 67.83 lakh and Rs 30.10 lakh, respectively, compared to Rs 8.46 lakh and Rs 1.78 lakh last year.

Besides, LSD blots valued at Rs 33.55 lakh were also seized, an increase from Rs 19.80 lakh in 2023, while charas seizure of Rs 67.81 lakh and methadone of Rs 55,000 were newly recorded in 2024, the official said.

Conversely, some substances, such as methaqualone and tramadol, which recorded seizures valued at Rs 5.96 crore and Rs 3.64 crore, respectively, in 2023, were not confiscated this year, he said.

Similarly, no heroin was seized in 2024, compared to the contraband of Rs 33,160 seized last year, the police added.

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Gurugram, Dec 26: Simran Singh, a popular freelance radio jockey from Jammu and Kashmir with nearly seven lakh followers on Instagram, allegedly committed suicide in her rented house in Sector 47 here, police said on Thursday.

Her body was found hanging in her room on Wednesday night, they said, adding no suicide note was found from the spot.

The Instagram profile of Simran, known by her fans as "Jammu Ki Dhadkan", shows she last posted a reel on December 13, police said.

According to police, Simran who had 6,82,000 followers on Instagram lived on rent with other friends in house number 58 of Sector 47 here for the last several months.

Sunil Kumar, SHO of Sadar police station, said that they got information at around 9:30pm on Wednesday by a Simran's friend who was staying in the same house.

A police team reached the spot and found the Simran's room locked from inside. The team broke open the door of the room and found her hanging, the SHO said.

Her family members, who reached here after being informed about the incident, said that she was upset for some time, he said.

"We handed over the body to the family members after the postmortem today. A probe is underway," the SHO added.