In a major breakthrough against an international drug syndicate, the Mumbai Police and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have arrested three people involved in smuggling cocaine into India in the form of capsules from Ethiopia. The Dongri Police had raided Sabina Guest House in September after receiving intelligence inputs and seized 3 kg of cocaine worth around ₹15 crore. However, the accused had managed to escape. Following an extensive investigation, the three suspects were finally arrested on Friday.
The arrested men have been identified as Tarun Kapoor (26), Himanshu Shah (25) and Sahil Attari (25). Earlier, the NCB, along with Customs officials, had detained Shah and Attari at Chennai Airport where they were found carrying 5 kg of cocaine. During interrogation, both named Kapoor as the main mastermind. Acting on this information, the Mumbai NCB detained Kapoor from Dongri on 2 September.
During the probe, Dongri Police learned that Kapoor had stored a consignment of narcotics in a room at Sabina Guest House. Acting on this input, the team recovered 3 kg of cocaine from the location. Since the accused were in judicial custody in Chennai, production warrants were issued to bring them to Mumbai, where they were formally taken into police custody.
According to the police, Kapoor and Attari are residents of Himachal Pradesh, while Shah hails from Haryana. Kapoor had travelled to Ethiopia in August to bring the drug consignment, after which Shah and Attari also visited the country. They were intercepted at Chennai Airport while attempting to bring the consignment into India. Investigators have also learned that the trio received drug supplies from a Punjab-origin associate based in Ethiopia.
All three accused were produced before the court on Friday, which remanded them to police custody until 18 November, confirmed DCP Pravin Munde of Zone 1.