Mumbai Police Bust Black Market Racket, Seize 25 Lakh Masks

Mumbai, 24 March 2020:

Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday said 25 lakh masks including the N-95 variety worth over Rs 15 crore were seized in a crackdown on black marketing during the coronavirus pandemic.

Four people were arrested in the police operations.

“The masks are not available in the market and police got tip-off and acted on it. Strict action will be taken against all the accused for illegal stocking of mask,” Deshmukh told reporters at a joint press conference with Mumbai police commissioner Parambir Singh.

Police said they seized 3.25 lakh N-95 masks which are now in short supply in the city, and 22 lakh 3-ply masks. There has ben a surge in demand of masks in the wake of the cornoavirus outbreak.

Police said the crime branch raided two warehouses Akhil warehouse and Gulam warehouse at Sahar village near the airport following a tip off.

The warehouse owners identified as Shahrukh Akhil Shaikh and Gulam Murtuza Munshir were arrested and during their interrogation they revealed that masks were also stored at another godown in Bhiwandi, crime branch officials said.

Four police teams raided the godown at Bhiwandi and seized 3 lakh N-95 masks and 22 lakh 3-ply masks, said deputy commissioner of police, Akbar Pathan.

The crime branch also arrested two more persons in Bhiwandi - Balaji Muttupandi Nadar , an alleged black market operator and Mihir Darshan Patel, a customs house agent.

“The accused were selling the masks at exorbitant rates to make a huge profit. The 3-ply mask which costs Rs 2 in the market was being sold at Rs 20 by the accused. While the accused were selling the N-95 masks for Rs 300 in the black market,” said Pathan.

All the accused were produced in a court on Tuesday and remanded in police custody till March 27.

The crime branch is now probing if the accused were planning to sell a certain number of masks abroad as well, and if the cancellation of flights had hampered their operations. “We are checking the records to find out if the accused had sent masks to any country or not,” said Pathan. Hindustan Times