MUMBAI: During its crackdown on drug-trafficking networks in 2025, the Mumbai zonal unit of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized 5,560 kg of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, including 11.76 kilogram of Cocaine and 49.66 kilogram of Mephedrone. Proceeds of assets worth ₹18 crore emanating from sale of narcotic substances were also frozen last year.
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The agency arrested 51 accused while probing 24 cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act last year, agency officials said. Describing its enforcement actions during 2025 as “significant”, the officials said that the NCB has focussed on dismantling of entire networks engaged in narcotic trafficking.
The seizures effected by the NCB Mumbai unit last year included Cocaine (11.76 kilogram), Charas (11.83 kilogram), Cannabis or ‘Ganja’ (223 kilogram), Mephedrone (49.66 kilogram), illicitly- diverted Codeine-based cough syrup (1,800 kilogram) and pharmaceutical tablets (12 kilogram), Acetic Anhydride (3,398.50 kilogram), 50 LSD blots (0.54 grams) and other prohibited substances. Further, the agency froze multiple immovable and movable assets estimated to be worth around ₹18 crore that were allegedly financed through illegal drug trafficking activities.
The 51 persons arrested by the NCB including suppliers, distributors, receivers, hawala operators, kingpins and key facilitators, while conducting probes against trafficking networks operating in the state, across states and overseas, the sources said.
Key Probes
NCB busted a network allegedly involved in international trafficking of cocaine, sourcing the narcotic from suppliers based in USA. In January this year, NCB’s Mumbai unit had intercepted three persons in Navi Mumbai and subsequently seized multiple types of drugs allegedly from their possession. The contraband was meant for sale in Belapur and Nerul of Navi Mumbai. The agency later in May secured the deportation of the network’s kingpin from Malaysia.
The agency also acted against a Dongri-based alleged drug syndicate, having links to organised crime, which dealt in trafficking of mephedrone. The agency also assisted via a joint operation with the state police and Rajasthan police that led to the busting of a clandestine, illegal laboratory in Raigad, Maharashtra, and the seizure of 47.68 kilogram of a synthetic drug, Ketamine.
In another operation against an inter-state trafficking network, the NCB seized tablets of the illegally-diverted pharmaceutical drug Alprazolam. The agency arrested the syndicate’s female kingpin and her associates who diverted the drug from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from its enforcement actions, the NCB also intensified awareness campaigns in schools and colleges at 35 locations and conducted training sessions for 375 officials from external stakeholders like law enforcement agencies and private firms. The agency disposed of 3,102 kg of seized drugs via incineration in 2025.