Palghar, March 25 Police have arrested two individuals in Lucknow in connection with a drug trafficking case in Palghar district, Maharashtra, 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 statement, 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, from Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh and residing in 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 the 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 statement 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 statement 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 the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at various police stations in the Vasai-Virar area, the statement 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 statement added.
