2 min readPuneMar 19, 2026 10:30 PM ISTAn offence was lodged against the two accused under sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.Pune city police have arrested two men for allegedly selling marijuana in haldi (turmeric) powder packets.Police identified the accused as Abhishek Bhika Borase (24) and his brother Akshay Bhika Borase (29), both natives of Warla in Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh, currently residing at Saidatta residency near the Chapekar Chowk in Chinchwad.An FIR was lodged at the Baner police station on Tuesday. Acting on a tip-off to police inspector Alka Sarag, a team of Baner police station laid a trap and nabbed the two accused on a motorcycle, near the Jupiter Hospital in Baner area around 1.30 am on Tuesday.During a search, cops found packets of haldi powder in Abhishek’s bag. Police said the haldi packets carried marijuana wrapped in khaki paper. Police recovered about 3 kg of marijuana, estimated at Rs 1.5 lakh, from the haldi packets. Police also seized a motorcycle, two cellphones and money, including Indian as well as foreign currency notes, from the accused. As stated in the FIR, as many as 21 Thai currency notes and one Singapore dollar were recovered from Akshay.An offence was lodged against the two accused under sections of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.During further investigation, a police team of assistant police inspectors Kailas Daberao and Ganesh Raykar recovered about 13 kg of marijuana, an electronic weighing machine and other items, all worth Rs 6.55 lakh, from the residence of the two accused in Chinchwad.“A court has remanded the two accused in police custody for eight days. Further investigation is on,” said senior police inspector Chandrashekhar Sawant of Baner police station.Story continues below this adPolice said the accused worked at a private firm. A probe is on to know from where they procured the marijuana and to whom they were planning to sell it, a police officer said.Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd