Mumbai Drug Crackdown: NCB Detains Four-Time Narco Offender Running Secret Chemical Lab Under PIT-NDPS Act

Mumbai: In a crackdown on organized narco-criminal networks, Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has successfully executed the preventive detention of a habitual narco-offender named R.B. Shedge under the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (PIT-NDPS), officials informed on Thursday. According to the NCB, Shedge has been habitually engaged in trafficking and preparation towards illicit drugs, officials said.

This preventive detention was carried out in compliance with the detention order dated May 14, issued by the Joint Secretary, PIT-NDPS division, Government of India. Shedge was intercepted on May 27 and subsequently lodged in the designated jail at Taloja Central Prison in Navi Mumbai. The PIT-NDPS Act is a preventive detention law passed in India to combat drug trafficking at its roots. Its core logic lies in enabling authorities to detain individuals suspected of being involved in the illicit drug trade, even before a crime is formally committed or proven, in order to prevent major drug-related offenses.

According to the NCB, Shedge has been habitually engaged in trafficking and preparation towards illicit drugs due to which he was arrested four times by law enforcement agencies including NCB & Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI). He has thorough knowledge in chemistry and first turned to drug trafficking in 2009 when he was arrested by DRI Mumbai involving multiple drugs like Alprazolam, Nordazepam, Amphetamine and Diazepam. After being enlarged on bail, he continued his drug trafficking activities and was arrested by NCB Mumbai in 2012 in a major Ketamine trafficking case spanning across multiple cities.

However, he did not deter and continued to be engaged in illicit business of drug trafficking after which he was again arrested in 2018 by DRI Mumbai for attempting to manufacture illicit drugs. In a display of improvised modus operandi, Shedge was arrested in 2025 by NCB Mumbai for illicit manufacturing of a chemical which was just one stage prior intermediate towards synthesis of Ketamine. He had set up a chemical laboratory in Raigad district and conducted a process to manufacture chemical compounds just one step below the finished product so as to not get caught in the web of the NDPS Act.

"Recognising the need to put a stop to his activities, NCB diligently pursued a PITNDPS proposal against him which has provision of preventive detention. This detention is another step in the fight against drug trafficking and its proponents. This underscores NCB’s sustained efforts in dismantling organized drug syndicates and targeting habitual offenders who continue to fuel the narcotics ecosystem," said an NCB official.

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