In one of the biggest drug seizures of this year, the officials of Mumbai police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) on Tuesday busted a drug manufacturing factory at Ankleshwar in Gujarat and seized 513 kilograms of Mephedrone (MD) worth Rs 1,026 crore besides arresting a person.
With the fresh arrest, the police have arrested total of seven persons in connection with the syndicate. Till date, the total seizure in the case has touched 1,218 kilograms of MD valued at Rs 2,435 crore.
So far, seven persons have been arrested in the case, including a woman and a couple of qualified chemists, who allegedly prepared the mixtures of various chemicals to manufacture the drugs.
Those arrested have been identified as Shamshulla Obhedulha Khan, Aayub Izhar Ahmed Shaikh, Reshma Sanjaykumar Chandan, Riyaz Abdul Sattar Memon, Premprakash Parasnath Singh, Kiran Pawar and Giriraj Dikshit. The gang was allegedly involved in manufacturing drugs and supplying it to Mumbai and nearby areas, the police said.
The sustained interrogation of the arrested accused led to the arrest of the seventh person Giriraj Dikshit, allegedly involved in the syndicate leading to another major drug haul that was seized on Saturday.
The ANC said the woman accused along with the other peddlers kept their identity secret, sought clients on social media and supplied the drugs to them in different parts of Mumbai and its surrounding areas.
According to the police, the probe was launched on March 29 with multiple raids in Govandi, Ambernath, and Nalasopara, besides Ankleshwar in Gujarat. The Worli unit of ANC arrested Shamsulla Obedullah Khan on March 29 and 250 gram MD was seized from him.
Thereafter, Ayub Shaikh was nabbed and 750 gram MD was seized from him. The police later arrested Reshma Chandan, Riyaz Memon, and Premprakash Singh. The police had seized 701 kg MD worth Rs 1,403 crore from Premprakash Singh.
While questioning Premprakash Singh, the police learnt that the drug which was found with him was made in a factory at the GIDC complex at Panoli in Ankleshwar, Gujarat.
Accordingly, the police raided a company on August 13 and seized 513 kg of MD worth Rs 1,026 crore and 812 kg white colour powder, and 397 chemicals used to prepare MD.
