From father to sons to daughters to sons-in-law, this drug syndicate is one of a kin.A city-based family of nine has been functioning as an out-and-out drug syndicate since the early 1980s, when the patriarch was launched into hash smuggling and distribution business by his father-in-law, investigations by the nodal anti-drug trafficking police have revealed. While three members have been arrested, the others are absconding and are wanted by the cops.When the Narcotics Control Bureau recently pieced together the Shaikh family’s history of living — rather opulently — off drug trade, case investigators were surprised to discover that every member save one has been involved in the countrywide business which has been thriving for more than 30 years now. Many of them have been arrested time and again by one or the other anti-narcotics law enforcement agency, but the army of lawyers they deployed ensured they walked out on bail each time to carry on the family trade.The 66-year-old family patriarch, Abdul Mohammed Shaikh alias Abdul Thana, started dealing in narcotics in the early 1980s, having been launched into the business by his father-in-law Ismail Jadiya, a leading top peddler of his time. As Jadiya busied himself with expanding the business to other parts of the country, he asked Abdul to take care of the smuggling end in Mumbai.Within a few years of starting off, Abdul got a firm foothold in the netherworld of narcotics and roped in his wife Nazma, son Arif, daughters Rubina and Rehana and their husbands Abdul Karobari and Kayamuddin Khan to help him. Abdul’s elder son Bilal, however, said no to the enterprise and parted ways with his father.Then, to consolidate his interests, Abdul married off his son Arif to the daughter of a Kashmiri drug kingpin called Ashraf. The family proceeded to corner a major chunk of the narcotics market in Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.Abdul was first arrested in 1996 with 400 g of hash, in 2008 with 60kg of hash and in 2013 with 1.2 kg of hash from his Thane home, after which cooled off his heels behind bars for eight months, eventually managing to get out on bail.Abdul’s chequered record is documented in the archives of the Anti-Narcotics Cell and Narcotics Control Bureau, the involvement of his eight close relatives emerged after he was arrested, one more time, by the NCB on December 23, again from Thane.This time, the officials caught hold of his son Ashrad and son-in-law Karobari, who is booked in two cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. His son Arif, meanwhile, has been charged in four cases under the Act.His daughter Nazma too was arrested in 2010 from her residence with 15 kg hash.Their tenaciousness in procuring and selling hashish ensured that the family never wanted for luxury.Sanjay Jha, NCB’s zonal director told Mumbai Mirror that Abdul has various properties in the state, including one Shalimar Hotel in Jalgaon and a restaurant. “He owns various flats under the name of his relatives in Mumbra and Thane. We are still investigating the case,” Jha said.