Latest news with #NavnathDhawale
Time of India
02-08-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Mumbai police order CCTV cameras at medical stores in a month to curb illegal drug sales
Mumbai: To check illegal sale of scheduled drugs, the Mumbai police has asked all pharmacy stores to install CCTV cameras in their premises within a month. Owners of medical stores and chemist shops are unhappy with the move as they believe such measures will not help. Scheduled drugs refer to medications regulated under the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945, on the basis of how they are manufactured, stored, distributed, and prescribed. For instance, Schedule H includes prescription drugs that cannot be sold without a doctor's prescription and Schedule X refers to prescription drugs that are highly addictive You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai The directive, issued under Section 152 of the Indian Civil Security Code, 2023, by deputy commissioner of police (anti-narcotics cell) Navnath Dhawale, is based on intelligence inputs. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Commission for Protection of Child Rights, New Delhi, too, had recently raised concerns about the sale of scheduled drugs and inhalants without valid prescriptions. The Anti-Narcotics Cell and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) found several medical stores in Mumbai sold habit-forming drugs without maintaining proper records. According to the order, every medical shop in Mumbai and its suburban districts will have to install CCTV cameras at all entrances, exits, and sale counters in such a way that the faces of customers and transactions are recorded. The cameras must have a minimum resolution of 2 megapixels, and footage must be stored for at least one month. Officials from the District Drug Control Authority and Child Welfare Police Officers can inspect CCTV footage. Medical shop owners have been given a 30-day period to comply with the order. Senior officials said the initiative is part of a larger crackdown on the misuse of prescription drugs, often diverted into the narcotics trade. Abay Pandey, president of the All Food and License Holders Foundation, told TOI: "Firstly, the police have no powers to check medical stores if there are not accompanied by FDA officials. Secondly, these CCTV cameras won't serve any purpose as the prescriptions and medicine strips are written in small fonts. How is the camera going to help them?" Prasad Danave, president of Retail and Dispensing Chemist Association Mumbai, said, "How is the camera going to keep a tab on the medicines sold? What about the online sites that sell abortion pills to a 14-year-old girl? Is there any check on them?"
Indian Express
27-05-2025
- Indian Express
Drug racket operating as goat farm at Karjat farmhouse busted
The Mumbai police busted a drug racket that was operating under the guise of a goat farm at a bungalow in Karjat. In the past two months, police also arrested six people from whom they recovered Mephedrone worth Rs 25 crore. According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone VI) Navnath Dhawale, the RCF police in Chembur arrested one person with 45 grams of Mephedrone on March 19. During the course of the investigation, police arrested five other people from Mumbai and Navi Mumbai, who sold the contraband to the accused arrested from Chembur. On May 15, the police recovered 6.6kg of Mephedrone worth Rs 13.37 crores in the international market. The anti narcotic squad set up by the zonal DCP then questioned the five accused who revealed that the contraband was prepared at the Salvi farmhouse in Karjat in Raigad. The accused told the police that Sonu Pathan, who in the past has been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), was using the front of a goat farm for producing the drug and also took a bungalow on rent. 'Having goats at the farmhouse also ensured that the foul smell emanating from the production of Mephedrone did not go out. When our team reached the spot, there were nearly 10 goats at the farmhouse,' Dhawale said. Based on this, the police team raided the farmhouse on Tuesday and arrested Sonu Pathan from there. The police found around 5 kg Mephedrone worth Rs 11 crore in the international market. Police also found raw materials worth Rs 1 crore used to manufacture Mephedrone. An officer said that they are still looking for another accused who fled from the bungalow.
