Drug deal struck at Hotel Blitz in Mombasa

AHMEDABAD: Drug mafioso Kishoresinh Rathod had struck the ephedrine deal with Kenya-based gangster Vicky Goswami and Dr Abdullah at Hotel Blitz in Mombasa. ATS sources said in January 2016, Rathod met Manoj Jain of Thane, Jay Mukhi, Goswami and Dr Abdullah at the hotel and decided to transport the ephedrine from Avon Life Sciences of Solapur to Ahmedabad. The contraband, worth Rs 270 crore, was later seized by ATS from a factory on the outskirts of the city in May 2016.Senior ATS officials said that during Rathod’s questioning, it came to light that while on the run, he first went to Rajkot and then went to the kumbh mela in Ujjain.“He next fled to Kathmandu in Nepal and lived there, using forged identity papers, for two months. From there, he went to Kanpur and then to Shivpuri near Ujjain, where he lived in a dharmshala,” added a senior ATS official. ATS sources said that from Ujjain, Rathod went to Bara village on the border between Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh and was looking for a rental premises. “We suspect he may have sought help from some of his old contacts in the Chambal valley,” added an ATS official.