Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has exposed an organized drug syndicate in Mumbai. Kingpin Danish Merchant alias Danish Chikna and his wife Hina Bharat Shah have been arrested from Goa. NCB has seized a total of 1.341 kg of Mephedrone (MD drug) in this action. A total of 4 people have been arrested in this operation, including the main conspirators.
NCB arrested N in Pune on the basis of special intelligence. A person named Gaikwad was stopped. During the search, 502 grams of Mephedrone was recovered from him. During interrogation, he gave information about a storage facility in Mumbai. NCB took immediate action and raided the said hideout, from where 839 grams of Mephedrone was recovered. These drugs were found from accused Zoheb Shaikh, who was working on the instructions of the kingpin. Investigation also revealed that this hideout is linked to Danish’s wife Hina Shah, who was his main associate in this racket.
The accused were constantly changing locations.
Both (Danish and Hina) were secretly operating the supply chain of drugs but after the action, they both absconded and kept changing their locations, mobile numbers and vehicles so as to avoid arrest. The NCB team, based on technical and human intelligence surveillance, traced their location to a luxury resort in Goa and arrested both of them on 25 October 2025.
Kingpin’s criminal history
Danish Merchant is a resident of Dongri (Mumbai) and is a vicious criminal. He was arrested by NCB-Mumbai in 2021 in a case of CBCS and ganja smuggling. Apart from this, in 2021, Rajasthan Police also booked him in a drug case, while in 2024, Mumbai Police arrested him for being involved in illegal manufacturing of synthetic drugs.
There are seven criminal cases registered against Danish in the Mumbai Police, after which he was declared ‘externed’ from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region in 2024. His wife Hina Bharat Shah also has a criminal record related to drugs. She was playing an active role in the process of supplying and hiding drugs.
Big action by NCB
This action is being considered a major success in the direction of breaking the organized drug network of NCB. The agency has said that it will continue to take strict action against such criminals who are promoting drug trade in the society. NCB said, “This campaign is a concrete step towards our vision of ‘Drug-free India 2047’. We are committed to dismantling such networks to protect public health.”
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