India’s Mumbai Police Arrest Drug Kingpin Naveen Chichkar in June 2025, Bust Global Cartel
by Vaishali Yadav.
The Mumbai ANC captures a major international drug cartel and deports a kingpin from Malaysia. The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of Mumbai has successfully dismantled a major international drug cartel with the arrest of its alleged mastermind, Naveen Chichkar, a native of Navi Mumbai, who had been operating from overseas, including time spent in London.
Chichkar, who studied criminal psychology and film & television in the UK, had been under the radar of Indian authorities for a long time. He was recently deported from Malaysia and taken into custody by the Mumbai ANC, following a red corner notice. His arrest is a significant development in what officials describe as one of the most significant drug seizures in India in recent years. Along with Chichkar, police also arrested his assistant Prabhat Pandey, a 30-year-old resident of Nerul, Navi Mumbai. The two are accused of overseeing large-scale distribution of synthetic drugs and hydroponic cannabis (commonly known as “hydro ganja”) to wealthy international clients, particularly in Europe and Australia.
The ANC had to grab 17.2 grams of hydro cannabis from Sector 15 in Nerul, which was worth 2.8 lakh rupees, in an earlier raid in April of this year. This case is closely related to that one. During that operation, two other men—Ashish Gaware (22) and Ahmed Aulagi (23)—were arrested. They are believed to have been part of Chichkar and Pandey's larger network. According to reports, the drug cartel brought illegal goods into India via air cargo routes from nations such as the United States, using Malaysia and the United Kingdom as points of transit. From here, they were further sent to countries such as Australia, hidden in packages that avoided traditional detection methods.
The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act has been used to book all of the accused, and they are currently being held by the police. Investigations are ongoing, with officers attempting to identify additional members of the syndicate and locate the global supply chain used to move the drugs.
This high-level operation by the Mumbai ANC demonstrates that individuals based in India are operating global drug networks and that law enforcement is now better equipped to track and capture key players, even across international borders.
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