Mephedrone worth Rs 300 crore seized in Mumbai, 12 arrested
Mumbai(PTI): Mumbai Police has seized mephedrone worth Rs 300 crore and arrested 12 persons from different cities in an operation that lasted two months, an official said on Friday.
A drug manufacturing unit located at Shindegaon MIDC industrial area in Nashik district was raided on Thursday, said Joint Commissioner of Police Satyanarayan Choudhary here. A total of 151.3 kg of mephedrone worth Rs 300.26 crore was seized during the entire operation, he added.
The probe began when the suburban Sakinaka police in Mumbai apprehended Anwar Sayyad (42), an alleged drug peddler, with 10 grams of mephedrone, a banned drug, on August 8.
The information provided by him led to the arrest of three persons on the same day for alleged drug peddling in Dharavi area of central Mumbai, and 90 grams of mephedrone was seized from them.
One of the accused told police that the drug was sourced from Arif Nasir Shaikh (42), a resident of Dharavi.
A Mumbai police team nabbed him in Hyderabad, and seized 110 grams of mephedrone, a country-made pistol, seven live rounds and Rs 4 lakh in cash from his possession, JCP Choudhary said.
Arif allegedly told police that he procured the drug from Nasir Umar Shaikh (58), a resident of J J Marg area in South Mumbai. On August 20, a police team arrested Nasir with 1.2 kg of mephedrone.
Subsequently, Rehan Ansari and Asmat Ansari were arrested from Shil Phata in Thane district with 15 kg of drugs.
A police team under supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police Datta Nalawade then got information about one Zishan Shaikh, who allegedly sourced mephedrone from a manufacturing unit in Nashik district.
Zishan Shaikh was arrested and the mephedrone manufacturing unit situated in Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's (MIDC) Shindegaon industrial estate was raided, where 133 kg of mephedrone worth Rs 267 crore was seized, the police official said.
During the probe, three more persons had been arrested.
A team of the Anti Narcotics Cell of Mumbai crime branch led by DCP Nalawade had busted a racket and seized mephedrone worth Rs 2,500 crore in 2022, he said.
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LS passes bill to open up nuclear sector for private participation
New Delhi (PTI): Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed the nuclear energy bill with Union minister Jitendra Singh asserting that it would help India achieve its target of 100 GW atomic energy generation by 2047.
The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, which seeks to open the tightly-controlled civil nuclear sector for private participation, was passed by voice vote amid a walkout by the opposition.
Singh termed the bill a "milestone legislation" that will give a new direction to the country's developmental journey.
"India's role in geopolitics is increasing. If we have to be a global player, we have to follow global benchmarks and global strategies. The world is moving towards clean energy. We too have set a target of 100 GW of nuclear energy capacity by 2047," he said.
The opposition contended that the bill diluted provisions of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 that passed on the liability for a nuclear incident on to the suppliers of nuclear equipment.
