E-Paper
Meth-preparing clan lab unearthed in Varanasi
The clan lab used to manufacture illegal synthetic drugs, particularly methamphetamine (meth, ice) using improvised materials and methods, said senior police officials
A clandestine drugs laboratory (clan lab) was unearthed and five people were arrested, in a joint operation of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the U.P. Special Task Force (STF) in Varanasi district, on Friday.
The clan lab used to manufacture illegal synthetic drugs, particularly methamphetamine (meth, ice) using improvised materials and methods, said senior police officials.
The NCB-STF joint operation was carried out in Indrapuri Enclave, Kadipur locality, under the Shivpur police station limits.
The five accused arrested were identified as two Bhadohi residents, Sushil Upadhyaya and Anand Tiwari; two Jaunpur residents, Pramod Yadav and Sandip Tiwari, and one Akram Chunni Khadde, a resident of Antop Hill, near Mumbai.
The officials said 1.3 kg of fully prepared Mephedrone (a synthetic drug), raw materials including methyl ammonium chloride, hydrochloric acid and several pieces of equipment used in manufacturing this synthetic drug were recovered from the premises.
“Those arrested used to prepare Mephedrone, which is popular among users as White Magic, Meow-Meow and Bubble, and supplied it to rave parties and high-profile clients in cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad,” said a senior official privy to the investigation.
He said this synthetic drug costs around ₹2.5 crore per kg. Later, drug retailers dilute the formulation to increase quantity which brings in more money. He said that the manufacturing capacity of this lab was around five kg per month, and it had been operational for the past several months.
The senior official said that the kingpin of this racket is the Jaunpur resident Sandip Tiwari, a Chemistry graduate, who had worked in Mumbai and probably learned its manufacture there. He said Tiwari was also arrested once by the Mumbai police in 2018 after which he returned to his native place in Jaunpur and started this synthetic drug manufacturing laboratory with help of Bhadohi resident Anand Tiwari after taking a house on rent in Varanasi’s Shivpur.
Sandip Tiwari has four cases registered against him in police stations of Mumbai.
The official said the duo roped in one person each from their native districts—Pramod Yadav from Jaunpur and Sushil Upadhyaya from Bhadohi. He said Sandip Tiwari shared the know-how and Pramod and Sushil used to manufacture the drug. Through his Mumbai links, Sandip Tiwari roped in Khadde, who was on a visit to Varanasi to collect a consignment for his clients in Mumbai, he said.
The official also said that the names of two more people involved in this racket have surfaced in the interrogation of Sandip Tiwari and three others but refused to divulge details about them.
Besides, the name of a big Mumbai-based drug racketeer has surfaced during interrogation of Khadde, he added. The two agencies are exploring the nexus and more arrests are likely to follow.
