Mumbai Police bust MD drug network, foil Rs 100-crore narcotics plan

THANE: Mumbai Police have busted a synthetic drug manufacturing network and seized raw materials and chemicals worth Rs 4 lakh that could have been used to produce mephedrone (MD) valued at nearly Rs 100 crore, officials said on Tuesday. Officials said the seizure thwarted an alleged plan by drug peddlers to flood the market with synthetic narcotics. The crackdown stemmed from an investigation launched early last month into a mephedrone trafficking network. Subsequent raids at Saman Nagari and Azmi Nagar in Malwani, and Mauje Manori in Gorai, led to the recovery of chemicals and manufacturing equipment collectively worth Rs 4 lakh, police said. Their estimated market value as finished MD products would have touched Rs 100 crore, claimed Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar crime unit senior police inspector Pramod Badakh. "Had the police limited the investigation to mere arrests and failed to probe further, this raw material would have been processed into finished MD and distributed through peddlers," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Doiphode said. Police said they have so far seized 6.773 kg of MD valued at Rs 13.61 crore. The haul included 255 litres of medicinal chemicals, sodium hydroxide pellets, hydrochloric acid, acetone, dichloromethane, melamine, chloroform and specialised laboratory equipment such as heating mantles, flasks, recovery flasks and addition pots. The total seizure is valued at Rs 13.65 crore. Thirteen persons, including two women, have been arrested in the case so far, officials said. The operation began on April 4 after a raid in the Nayanagar area of Mira Road in Thane district led to the recovery of 1.32 kg of MD worth Rs 2.66 crore from a woman identified as Firdos Arbaz Qureshi, police said. Investigators said the interrogation of Firdos and her husband, Arbaz Vakil Qureshi, exposed a wider drug network, leading to multiple arrests. All the accused have been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.