A 40-year-old man, Jameel Ahmad, who had been working as an event manager in Mumbai’s Film City, was arrested on May 8 after evading capture for six years in connection with a major drug seizure case from 2019, police said on Thursday.
Ahmad was identified as a key conspirator in an interstate drug trafficking racket. The arrest was made from his native village in Pinangwan, Haryana’s Nuh district, by the Anti-Narcotics Task Force, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Apoorva Gupta.
In 2019, Ahmad fled after three of his associates — Aslam Khan, Mausam Khan (both from Nuh), and Jakam Khan from Alwar, Rajasthan — were caught near Kashmere Gate with a truck carrying 500 kg of cannabis. The trio implicated Ahmad as the mastermind who had sent them to Odisha to procure the drugs.
He relocated to Mumbai, worked in event management, frequently changed mobile numbers, and avoided his hometown except for brief visits to meet his children.
His arrest came after a tip-off, followed by a swift police operation.
During interrogation, Ahmad revealed he sourced cannabis from two individuals, Gabriel and Paul, in Odisha. Gabriel was arrested in 2020 in a separate case involving cannabis worth Rs 17 crore in Gajapati district.
Ahmad also has prior cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Excise Act in Haryana. Police are continuing their investigation to identify other members of the drug network.
