Ex-Air India pilot among 6 arrested, inter-state drug racket busted: NCB

A former Air India (AI) pilot is among six people arrested as the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has busted an inter-state drug racket and seized 60 kg of synthetic stimulant drug Mephedrone worth ₹120 crore, the agency said.

The agency said Sohail Gaffar Mahida, who was trained in the US and worked for AI as a pilot from 2016 to 2018, Muthu Pichaidas, SM Chowdhury, M I Ali, and MF Chisty were arrested from Mumbai and Bhaskar V from Gujarat’s Jamnagar.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence earlier arrested Pichaidas, a history sheeter, in 2001 in another drug case. He was out on bail since 2008.

An NCB official said the arrests were made after the naval intelligence unit in Jamnagar reported suspicious activities of a few persons.

NCB’s zonal director, Amit Ghawate, said they worked on the information and learnt Mephedrone was being transported from Gujarat to another state before seizing 10.35 kg of the drugs. Bhaskar V, Mahida, Chowdhury, and Pichaidas were arrested on October 3.

Officials said two more people, Ali and Chisty, were arrested and 50 kg of Mephedrone was seized on Thursday from a godown in South Mumbai on the basis of the interrogation of the four.