Gorakhpur, June 4: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized 406 kg of ‘ganja’ (contraband substance) in Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur and arrested four accused who were taking the contraband to Deoria from Tezpur in Assam, an official said on Thursday.

The NCB Gorakhpur Zone, in coordination with the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF), achieved the breakthrough when they arrested two persons on Wednesday, a statement said.

Acting on specific intelligence, NCB Gorakhpur intercepted a pickup van on the Salempur–Lal Bazar Main Road in Deoria and seized 202 kg of ganja concealed in the vehicle, the statement added.

During the follow-up investigation, NCB teams conducted further operations in Barhaj town of Deoria, resulting in the recovery of an additional 204.8 kg of ganja and the arrest of two more accused, it said.

With two separate recoveries, the total seizure by the NCB and Uttar Pradesh STF totalled 406.8 kg of ganja, it added.

The four accused were charged with offences under the relevant provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

The NCB said that investigation was underway to identify and apprehend other persons involved in the trafficking network and to ascertain the forward and backward linkages of the contraband.

In a separate operation in Maharashtra earlier, the NCB arrested two drug traffickers and recovered 702 kg ganja while busting a major interstate trafficking network in Gondia, an official said.

“The 702 kg ganja was concealed in 100 packets among grocery cargo items, including detergent, toothpaste and hair dye, was recovered and seized,” the official said in a statement.

The seized contraband was sourced from Odisha and destined for multiple Maharashtra-based drug syndicates operating in Nagpur, Gondia, Pune and Mumbai.

In another case, the NCB secured jail terms in a Mumbai court for five drug traffickers, including the kingpin, in a synthetic drug trafficking case.

The convicts were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 15 years to one year, a statement added.

The Special NDPS Court in Thane sentenced the kingpin Mohammed Arif Yaqoob Bhujwala, a resident of Mumbai’s Chinchbunder, to 15 years’ imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 2 lakh, the NCB’s Mumbai Zonal Unit said.

“Parvez Khan alias “Chinku Pathan” and Mohammed Salman Khan, both residents of Chinchbunder, along with Vikrant Jain, a resident of Bhiwandi in Thane, were awarded five years’ imprisonment each and fined Rs 50,000 each,” the NCB added.

“Haris Faizullah Khan, resident of Bandra West in Mumbai, was sentenced to one-year imprisonment, along with a fine of Rs 10,000,” it said.

The NCB investigation led to freezing of two movable and three immovable properties worth more than Rs 1.5 crore belonging to Parvez Khan alias Chinku Pathan.

Mumbai: A political row broke out after waterlogging was seen at the Andheri Subway after a brief spell of rain disrupted traffic in Mumbai on June 3. BJP MLA Ameet Satam criticised Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray’s proposal of rainwater holding tanks, saying the flooding problem at Andheri Subway is far more severe than at Hindmata or Milan Subway.

His response came after the UBT leader took to his official handle on X and spoke on the success of rainwater holding tanks at Hindmata-Gandhi Market and Milan Subway, projects which were undertaken during the party’s tenure. He said the ‘sponge city’ concept had helped make those areas flood-free and accused the BJP-led BMC of failing to implement similar projects.

Coming back to Satam’s response, he explained that the issue at the Andheri subway is that the quantum of water flowing into it is extremely high, which leads to severe flooding during heavy rainfall, adding that the situation cannot be compared to the Milan subway or Hindmata. He further added, “Relying only on holding ponds will not solve the problem.”

Satam said a BMC had proposed a Rs 500 crore plan involving three holding ponds and a drain to divert water to the Bhardawadi culvert, however, he added that too would reduce flooding by only 50 per cent.

Taking a jibe at the sponge city concept of the Thackeray govt, Satam slammed and said, “You really made Mumbai a ‘sponge city’ by absorbing all public money.”

Further responding to Thackeray’s remarks, Satam criticised and questioned what the previous Sena-led BMC administration had done to solve the issue between 1997 and 2022, when the subway continued to face flooding.

Opposition in Mumbai has slammed the BMC and questioned the monsoon preparedness after brief pre-monsoon showers flooded the Andheri Subway. This comes at a time when the BMC has been undertaking several monsoon preparedness measures, including desilting and cleaning major nullahs, clearing garbage, and carrying out road concretisation works.

Mumbai: Hajj pilgrims faced problems at Mumbai airport due to negligence of Mumbai Hajj Committee of India. After collecting the luggage of the pilgrims in Mecca and Jeddah, their luggage is now missing, due to which the pilgrims at Mumbai airport have raised questions about the arrangements of the Hajj Committee and have said that the Hajj Committee had collected the luggage on May 1st, but the luggage has not reached Mumbai till now. Due to the mismanagement of the Hajj Committee, the pilgrims of Maharashtra and the country are facing problems. Due to the non-availability of luggage to the pilgrims of Mumbai including Bhopal, Bhasawal, Aurangabad, Malegaon, there is chaos at the airport and anxiety among the pilgrims, while the pilgrims have accused the Hajj Committee of mismanagement.

Haji Nazar Alam said that the luggage of the pilgrims was collected on May 1st, but when we reached the airport, the luggage did not arrive. We were assured that the luggage would reach the airport, but so far there is no trace of the luggage. Due to not receiving the luggage, the pilgrims fell into chaos and there was a commotion at the Mumbai airport. There is anxiety in Mumbai due to not receiving the luggage of the guests of Allah. The Hajj Committee of India had collected their luggage on May 1st and told them that their luggage would be delivered to them at the Mumbai airport. When the pilgrims reached the Mumbai airport, they were told that their luggage had not arrived yet and that their luggage would be delivered to their homes. The pilgrims had reached the Mumbai airport from different parts of Maharashtra such as Malegaon, Aurangabad, Dhulia, Jalna, Amravati, Nagpur and they clearly said that their luggage was safe and when would they get it? The Hajj Committee administration has informed the pilgrims at the airport that their luggage is safe and they will receive it soon. There is discontent among the pilgrims in Mumbai over not receiving their luggage, while thousands of pilgrims are worried due to the mismanagement of the Hajj Committee.