Representative picture Photo credit: Getty Images
Drug-related crimes have increased in Maharashtra’s Navi Mumbai city with 654 cases registered this year as against 475 in 2023, a senior police official said on Thursday (Dec 26, 2024).
The total value of contraband seized in these cases was ₹ 33.27 crore as against ₹ 22.97 crore last year, the official said, quoting the annual report of Navi Mumbai Police.
In 2024, 939 people were arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, compared to 811 last year, he said.
Of those arrested, 58 were foreign nationals, an increase from 37 in 2023, the official said.
The value of contraband seized from foreign nationals this year was ₹25.70 crore, which would increase by ₹11.61 crore in 2023.
Among the drugs seized, cocaine had the highest value of ₹16.70 crore, a staggering increase from ₹1.25 crore in 2023, the official said.
Police seized mephedrone (MD) worth ₹12.67 crore, up from ₹9.33 crore last year, while MDMA seizures increased from ₹22.10 lakh to ₹29.98 lakh in 2023, he said.
Seizures of ganja and brown sugar were also high, with the value rising to Rs 67.83 lakh and Rs 30.10 lakh, respectively, as against Rs 8.46 lakh and Rs 1.78 lakh last year.
Besides, LSD blots worth ₹ 33.55 lakh were also seized, up from ₹ 19.80 lakh in 2023, while hashish worth ₹ 67.81 lakh and methadone worth ₹ 55,000 were newly recorded in 2024, the official said.
In contrast, some substances like methaqualone and tramadol, which were worth ₹5.96 crore and ₹3.64 crore respectively in 2023, have not been seized this year, he said.
Similarly, no heroin was recovered in 2024, compared to Rs 33,160 worth of contraband seized last year, the police added.
published – December 26, 2024 at 11:06 am IST