Ahmedabad:
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) here arrested three persons and seized 'club drugs' Ketamine and Methamphetamine worth Rs 38 crore in the international market, officials said on Monday.
A huge cache of about 400 kg of white powder, suspected to be Methamphetamine or Ketamine was also seized from a factory in the Sangli district of Maharashtra, which belongs to one of the persons arrested, DRI officials said, adding that the entire operation had taken place over the past one week.
One local courier agent Sujal Patel, his associate Babu Sharma and owner of the Sangli-based Kumud Drugs Pvt Ltd factory Abhijeet Konduskar, have been arrested and booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, they said.
According to the DRI officials, the operation began last week, with the seizure of 6 kg Ketamine and 37 kg Methamphetamine from the Air Cargo complex at the Ahmedabad airport, which was concealed in packages and were being couriered to the UK and the US by Patel.
These packages were hidden inside the boxes of packaged food products, they said.
Following this seizure, raid was conducted at Patel's premises, from where 48 kg of suspected contraband Alprazolam tablets was seized, they said.
Interrogation of Patel led to the factory in Sangli, where 37 kg Methamphetamine was manufactured, they said.
Patel was arrested on Friday following which Sharma and Konduskar were arrested on Sunday from Mehsana and Mumbai respectively, officials added. Further investigations are on to find out if this racket has any international connections, they added.