Runaway drug racketeer held from Bengaluru

Police today announced arrest of Faiyaz Shaikh, suspected to be the kingpin of a drug racket busted in Vasai in the district last year, from Bengaluru.
Shaikh was evading arrest for the last four months since the police raided a locality in Manickpur area of Vasai and arrested three persons for allegedly carrying 21.70 kg Ephedrine.
The trio were booked under various section of the Narcotic Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.
Based on the information given by the trio, the police on October 3 last year seized an SUV, 5.25 kg Heroin, 24.69 kg Isosafrole, drug-manufacturing material--collectively worth Rs 40 crore from a farm house in Talsari village in Palghar district, a senior police officer said today.

He said a police team camped for nearly 27 days in the Karnataka capital before it could lay its hands on Shaikh.
"Shaikh and his associate Sajid Shaikh were spotted by police in a car in Jaynagar locality of Bengaluru on January 22 and were arrested after a chase by the police," said Palghar (Rural) SP Manjunath Shinge.

Shaikh was produced before a court here today which remanded him in police custody till February 5.
He has a string of drug-related cases pending against him in Mangaon and Raigad--in Maharashtra, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
Police have booked Shaikh and his associated under stringent provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes (MCOC) Act, which will make securing bail difficult.