Sewri police close case of missing drugs, saying rodents ate 34 kg of ketamine worth Rs 3.4 crore

Rats consumed 34 kg of drugs - believe it or not, this is what the Mumbai Police has come up with three years after narcotics worth Rs 3.4 crore went missing from the customs godown in Sewri in 2014. The police have now closed the case by filing an 'A summary' (classifying the case as true, but undetected).

The stolen drugs were part of a nearly 200-kg stash of party drug ketamine that the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had seized from Andheri in June 2011, in the Konduskar case, in which Abhijeet Konduskar of Konduskar Travels was arrested along with others for illegal drug trade. The police had seized a total of 1,000 kg ketamine from Mumbai and Sangli.

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The drugs were stolen from a customs godown in Sewri in 2014

Under the cops' noses

The contraband seized in Mumbai was kept in the Nanavati godowns, where the central enforcement agencies keep their seized and confiscated goods. The godown is located right opposite Sewri police station. According to the FIR filed in 2014, of the 20 sealed packets of seized ketamine, seven were found to be torn and considerably lighter. The stolen drugs are worth R3.4 crore on the international market.

"On June 17, 2014, a DRI officer and an additional magistrate had visited the godown. They found that while 13 packets were intact, the weight of ketamine in the remaining seven was less. The packets were torn and 34.14 kg was found stolen," Purshottam Nimje, senior customs officer, had stated in the FIR lodged under section 380 (theft in dwelling house) of the Indian Penal Code.

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The Sewri police probed the case from all possible angles but did not find any leads. The police have now filed an A summary to close the investigation.

"We have closed the case and filed an A summary in the court. It is believed that rats ate the drugs. If any fresh lead emerges in the future, the case can be reopened and further investigated," said Sudhir Navge, senior inspector of Sewri police station.

It is unknown whether the investigators looked into the involvement of any drug racket behind the theft or the possibility of an inside job.

Torn packets

Another officer said, "The complainant party itself had suspected that the drugs were eaten by rats. They had also claimed that the packet seals were intact and the bags were only torn from the bottom. If someone wanted to steal it, they could have taken the entire packet."

A source from the police said that when the force puts forward a proposal to file a final summary to close criminal cases, they have to present in court all the documents pertaining to the efforts taken during investigation. Only after the court is convinced and satisfied is the approval granted to file the closure report.

34 kg

Quantity of ketamine stolen

Rs 3.4 cr

Value of the stolen drugs

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