Foreign nationals held as Mephedrone racket busted in Pune

The Anti Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) of Maharashtra police has apprehended three individuals, including two foreign nationals, in connection with a Mephedrone (MD) drug trafficking operation in Pune city. The suspects identified are Cisse Sadio alias Alex from Senegal, Jele Beasmark from Eswatini, and Vikram Kalekar, an Indian national from Karjat in Raigad district. All three were arrested on Thursday, and a Pune court has remanded them to ANTF custody for six days.

During the operation, police recovered 22 grams of MD and eight cell phones from Alex, and 14 grams of MD and six cell phones from Jele. The total number of arrests in this case now stands at seven. Earlier in June, ANTF officers had arrested three individuals, including Tejas Sangle, Mayur Patil, and Sanjay Baghel, who were in possession of 98.64 grams of MD, estimated to be worth Rs 29 lakh.

The arrested suspects were allegedly attempting to sell the drug to customers in Pune. Investigation revealed that they had procured the MD from Mohammad Mirza Ali from Dahisar, Mumbai, who was arrested last month. Following a thorough investigation, including financial tracking and technical analysis over two months, ANTF traced the supply chain and made the arrests. The probe is currently underway to determine the purpose of Alex and Jele's entry into India and their connections to MD suppliers.

The ANTF spokesperson stated that further investigation will be conducted to uncover the local distribution channels and international linkages of the syndicate.