Four foreign nationals have been arrested in the case.
Four foreign nationals and a luxurious house near Delhi - a detail that didn't mean much to anyone until it was known that the team of four was using the property to produce "fine-quality" banned methamphetamine drugs.
The lab at the "luxurious and lonely private place" at Alestonia Estate in Uttar Pradesh's Greater Noida was busted by the Delhi Police on Tuesday. The police recovered 445 grams of fine-quality banned methamphetamine drug and 20.5 kg of raw materials that included one kg of pseudoephedrine - an ingredient for the illicit manufacture of methamphetamines. Sophisticated equipment, including a heating mantle machine and high-quality face masks, were also recovered from the lab.
Nigerian national Eze Uchenna James (49), Alitumo Ifedi Shedrack (28), Eze Ibe Emeka Chibuzo alias Iko (56) and Kenyan national Ivo Osita alias Usta alias Osey (44) have been arrested, police said.
Out of the accused, Eze, Alitumo and Ivo were previously arrested and convicted in drug trafficking cases and were out on conditional bail, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) Ankit Singh.
The drug bust was part of an ongoing operation by the Delhi Police against the suppliers of narcotics substances.
On November 27, 2023, a team of the Anti-Narcotics Cell of Dwarka district got a secret tip-off about a Nigerian national being involved in a drug syndicate. The team conducted a raid and caught Eze from Uttam Nagar.
Soon after Eze's arrest, his associate Alitumo was caught from the same area of Uttam Nagar on January 11 and about 100 grams of methamphetamine drug was recovered from his possession.
The police said Alitumo along with Ibe and Ivo used to manufacture fine-quality methamphetamine drug in the Greater Noida-based lab, a raid was conducted and all of them were caught on January 16.
Police said the accused used to distribute the drugs to their potential customers in Delhi and nearby areas.