Danish Merchant, a key aide of gangster Dawood Ibrahim, was arrested in connection with a drugs case on Friday. Merchant, also known as Danish Chikna, allegedly managed the drug operations for the gangster in the Dongri area and was nabbed along with his associate, Kader Ghulam Sheikh.
Merchant was a wanted accused in a drug case, NDTV reported citing Mumbai Police sources. His arrest comes after month-long probe that started following the arrest of two other individuals identified as Mohammed Ashikur Sahidur Rahman and Rehan Shakeel Ansari, who were held last month.
The series of arrests started on November 8 after Rahman was caught with 144 grams of drugs near Marine Lines Station. During interrogation, it was revealed that the drugs had been procured from Ansari in the Dongri area.
The police, acting on this information, apprehended Ansari and seized 55 grams of narcotics from him. Later, Ansari revealed that the drugs were supplied to him by Danish Merchant and another associate named Qadir Fanta.
Since then, the police had been looking for Merchant and Fanta. Finally on December 13, the police located both the suspects in the Dongri area after receving a tip-off and planned an operation to arrest the duo. After their arrest, the duo confessed to their involvement in the drug racket during questioning.
In 2021, Danish Chikna was arrested from Rajasthan’s Kota in a joint operation of Kota Police and the Narcotics Control Bureau. The police had also seized drugs from his vehicle. Danish Merchant’s name had come up during the interrogation of Dawood Ibrahim’s aides Arif Bhujwala and Chinku Pathan.
The NCB had raided a drug labroratory in Mumbai in March the same year and Merchant was suspected of running and managing the drug operation. After a 1200 km-long chase, Merchant was interceoted by the Kota Police.
At the time of arrest, the police recovered 200 grams of drugs from him, following which he was booked under relevant sections of the NDPS Act.
In 2019, the NCB dismantled Dawood’s drug factory in Dongri and seized narcotics worth crores of rupees. After his arrest in Rajasthan, Merchant had remained in jail until his recent release.
