Woman, 22, booked for selling e-cigarettes and ganja from Viman Nagar jewellery shop

Airport police have registered a case against a 22-year-old woman after raiding a cosmetic jewellery shop in Viman Nagar. She is accused of selling banned e-cigarettes, hookah flavours and ganja. The raid took place on Tuesday night (November 3). Police seized banned and other items worth Rs 2.17 lakh from the shop and from a motorcycle parked outside.

The accused has been identified as Abhilasha Pankaj Ahirrao, a resident of Viman Nagar. She is alleged to have been running the illegal trade from her shop, Cloud Cartel, at Shop No. 9 in Lunkad Dreamland. Police also found 130 gm of ganja during the action.

Nitin Rathod, PSI at Airport police station, said: "On the night of November 3, we had received information about the illegal sale of e-cigarettes and hookah flavours. The accused had a jewellery shop, but she is alleged to have run the illegal trade from there. She was struggling financially, and that is why she had started selling these items. We have seized the goods and have served her a notice calling her to the police station for further investigation."

According to police, the woman earlier ran a shop in Deccan as well. She closed it last month and then started Cloud Cartel in Viman Nagar. Investigators suspect she was taking orders over the phone and selling these banned items. Her customers were people from the surrounding area, which has many IT companies and educational institutions.

In the search, police found e-cigarettes of different brands, including Elf Bar, iJoy Pop and Yuto Beyonder. Hookah flavours, two hookah pots and a small weighing scale were also recovered. The seized items also include 130 gm of ganja, a mobile phone, an electric motorcycle and Rs 24,500 in cash.

Fifteen e-cigarettes of different brands were found in the shop. Ten pods of Elf Bar Watermelon Honey were recovered from the storage box of the motorcycle parked outside. Police also seized 17 packets of different hookah flavours and other material allegedly used in the trade. The total value of the seized goods, including the electric motorcycle and the mobile phone, has been estimated at Rs 2,17,100.

After the seizure, Airport police registered a case against Ahirrao under Sections 8(a) and 20(b)(ii)(A) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. Provisions of the Prohibition of Electronic Cigarettes Act, 2019 and the relevant sections of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 have also been invoked.

Police said the investigation is continuing. It will try to establish where the banned goods came from and whether anyone else was involved in the alleged illegal trade.