Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
Four days after the arrest of the city’s main drug trafficker Shaikh Ashfaq (Champachowk), his associate Shaikh Kaleem (35, Ravindranagar) was found hiding 20.69g of MD drugs in 33 packets inside a sword sheath at his home on Saturday, senior police inspector Gajanan Kalyankar confirmed.
Additional drugs, the sword, and previously seized 53.32g of MD powder, ₹3.26 lakh in cash, and 8 tolas of gold were recovered. Nine arrests have been made since January 24, with Kaleem remanded in police custody until February 1.
Kaleem initially evaded questioning but later confessed. The sword and hidden drugs were intended to threaten non-compliant buyers. Investigations confirmed that Ashfaq sourced MD drugs from traffickers in Indore. Ashfaq employed local youths at Rs 400 per day to deliver drugs, using threats and physical assault to enforce compliance. Police also seized DVRs from his Champachowk and other homes, where he monitored live CCTV footage, and are now tracing all suspects.