The arrest of a peddler and subsequent seizure of the designer drug, Mephedrone, which goes by street name 'MD' or 'Meow Meow', has become the first such case in Maharashtra to be registered under stringent NDPS Act.
Until now the possession of Mephedrone was charged under sections 328 and 284 of IPC, said DCP (Crime), Thane, Parag Manere.
He said the offence was included in the NDPS Act since February 5 as the number of such cases grew manifold, with many youths getting hooked up to the drug.
The peddler, identified as Hasan alias Haji Afsar Qureshi, was nabbed from Mumbra railway station last evening, said Mandar Dharmadhikari, senior inspector of Narcotics Cell.
They seized 55 gms of the contraband, valued at Rs 27,500, from Qureshi and registered a case against him under NDPS Act.
According to ACP (Crime) Nagesh Lohar, the crime branch had registered 11 offences of possession of MD and arrested 24 persons in 2014 under sections 328 and 284 of the IPC.
Police have so far seized around 176 kgs of MD powder, estimated at Rs. 80,00,000, and raided various localities in and around Thane.
