Drugs Worth Rs 831 Crore Seized From Maharashtra, Gujarat; 4 Arrested

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) conducted a raid at a mephedrone manufacturing unit in Thane district of neighbouring Maharashtra and seized liquid drug worth Rs 800 crore, an official said on Wednesday.

It also carried out a similar operation at a pharmaceutical factory in Bharuch district of Gujarat, where it recovered liquid Tramadol worth Rs 31 crore, he said.

During its operations conducted at both the places on August 5 and 6, the ATS arrested four persons who were involved in the production and sale of these narcotic substances which are banned under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, said Sunil Joshi, Deputy Inspector General of Police, ATS.

Based on a specific tip-off, an ATS team raided an apartment in Bhiwandi town of Maharashtra on August 5 and arrested Mohammad Yunus Shaikh (41) and his brother Mohammad Adil Shaikh (34) with nearly 800 kilograms of mephedrone (MD drug) in liquid form and worth Rs 800 crore in the international market, he told reporters.

"Our probe revealed that the two brothers had rented the flat nearly eight months ago to manufacture mephedrone using various chemicals. Their earlier batch failed but this batch was almost ready and the process to produce the final product in powder form was on when the raid was conducted," Mr Joshi said.

On July 18, the ATS had busted a mephedrone manufacturing unit in Palsana area of Surat city and seized drugs and raw material worth Rs 51.4 crore, he said, adding that three persons were also arrested from the spot.

During their interrogation, the trio revealed that Shaikh brothers from Maharashtra were also part of the drug cartel, he said.

In another operation, the agency raided a pharmaceutical unit in Dahej industrial area of Bharuch district and arrested two persons with liquid Tramadol worth Rs 31 crore, Mr Joshi said.

Tramadol, an opioid pain medication, was notified as a psychotropic substance under the NDPS Act in 2018 and its export is restricted.

The arrested persons were identified as Pankaj Rajput and Nikhil Kapuria.

Investigations revealed that Rajput works as a chief chemist at that factory, where pharmaceuticals are produced as per order, while Kapuria is the owner of a chemical trading firm.

"Kapuria had convinced Rajput to produce Tramadol. They acquired the raw material from a firm in Ahmedabad, whose owner is Harshad Kukadiya. After preparing the liquid Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), the duo used to send the liquid to Kukadiya. With the help of his aides, Kukadiya used to send the liquid to a factory in Gandhinagar to prepare Tramadol tablets," Joshi said.

While Rajput and Kapuria have been arrested, efforts are on to nab others who were involved in this racket, he said.

On July 29, the Customs department had seized at Mundra port in Gujarat's Kutch district 68 lakh Tramadol tablets worth Rs 110 crore from two export containers destined for the West African countries of Sierra Leone and Niger.

Interrogation of the arrested accused revealed that the seized tablets were prepared by them and sent to Mundra for export, Joshi said.

Notably, Tramadol has gained notoriety in recent times as the 'fighter drug' after it was reported that ISIS fighters consume it to stay awake for long hours.

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