Navi Mumbai Drug Racket: 11th Arrest Made as Postal Officer Held In US-Thailand Hydro Ganja Cartel Probe

The Special Investigating Team (SIT) has made the eleventh arrest in the US-Thailand Hydro Ganja drug cartel case. The most recent accused is an assistant officer from the Foreign Postal Department, identified as Ravi Shripal (30), a resident of Jabalpur. He was arrested from Jabalpur.

Previously, the SIT had arrested two police personnel from the Navi Mumbai force and a Superintendent from the Customs Department. An employee of the Postal Department, Shripal was allegedly involved in tracking the movement of drug-laden parcels and ensuring they were dispatched to designated locations.

According to the police, once an ‘Air Courier’ carrying drugs was dispatched from the US or Thailand, Shripal would track its movement until it reached the airport. This tracking information was then passed on to the previously arrested Customs officer Prashant Gaur (40), who in turn relayed it to accused Kamal Chandwani alias KK (56). Once the parcel reached Gaur, he allegedly cleared it without following the required customs checks and forwarded it to Shripal for final dispatch.

The cartel was first busted during a raid on April 14 by the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU), which led to the arrest of Ashish Gaware (22) and Ahmad Olgi (23) from Nerul, with 1.15 kg of traditional ganja and 17.19 grams of hydro ganja. The seizure led authorities to trace the drug trail to the US and Thailand, allegedly operated by the sons of Gurunath Chichkar, who died by suicide on April 19.

The police are yet to confirm whether the operation was led by Chichkar's elder son Naveen or his younger son Dheeraj. Naveen was already wanted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which had summoned Gurunath Chichkar for statements. After ANU also found a link to Chichkar’s sons, he was summoned again on April 19. Frustrated by the ongoing investigations against his sons, Chichkar took his own life.

The arrested accused so far are: Gaware, Olgi, Sahil Shabbir Lambe (27), Sujit Bangare (28), Kamal Chandwani alias KK (56), Sachin Bhalerao (40), Sanjay Phulkar (36), Ankit Patel (37), Rinkukumar Patel (39), Prashant Gaur, and Ravi Shripal.

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