MUMBAI, Nov 16: Maharashtra NCP Minister Nawab Malik on Tuesday accused the Narcotics Control Bureau Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede and FTV head Kashiff Khan of alleged links with the Russian drugs mafia operating in Goa and demanded answers from the drugs probe agency.
Addressing the media with another expose, Malik said that Goa state comes under the jurisdiction of NCB Mumbai and it is known world over that it is a centre of ‘drug tourism’, but nothing is being done there.
“The Russian drug mafia is dealing in narcotics in Goa… Kashiff Khan controls the drug trade in Goa, but he’s part of Wankhede’s ‘Private Army’ and he is now being shielded… He has many cases lodged against him and is also declared an ‘absconder’ by a court,” Malik said.
Wankhede — who is facing several allegations in the past few weeks — has not reacted to the latest salvo unleashed by the Nationalist Congress Party Minister.
Elaborating, he said that prior to the NCB raid on Cordelia Cruise ship on October 2, a New Delhi-based informer had sent some photos and details of a couple of persons, including Kashiff Khan.
“These pictures were sent to Kiran P. Gosavi and Wankhede… Kashiff Khan and others enjoyed the rave party aboard the ship, but they were not detained and given a ‘safe passage’ at the time. Why was Kashiff Khan not detained or questioned or nabbed, what is the reason for protecting him… the NCB will have to reply,” Malik said.
He indicated that another person by the code-name of ‘White Dubai’ is operating from the UAE whose name figures in the WhatsApp chats of both Khan and Gosavi, but promised to share more later.
Malik claimed that Khan is presently in Goa and wanted in many cases, but why Wankhede has not summoned him for probe and demanded that the call detail records of all of them should be checked by the NCB.
The NCP leader’s latest volley came as a part of his crusade after the NCB’s raid on the Cordelia Cruise, which he has repeatedly labelled as ‘farji’ (fraudulent) and demanded a thorough probe into it.
The NCB raid, which has now become vitiated amid allegations and counter-allegations, is currently being probed by special team of the central agency, with ‘assistance’ from Wankhede — who is under a cloud with stunning charges of extortion and murky deals levelled by an ‘independent witness’ Prabhakar Sail.