In ₹381 crore bust, police find MD factory in Mysuru, key supplier to Mumbai

Mumbai police arrested four in a ₹381 crore Mephedrone bust, seizing 187kg from a Mysuru factory linked to a major drug racket.

MUMBAI: In a ₹381 crore Mephedrone (MD bust, the Sakinaka police arrested four people and seized 187kg of the synthetic stimulant and its raw materials from a drug manufacturing unit in Mysuru, Karnataka. The unit was a key supplier in Mumbai’s MD racket, and was exposed thanks to a lead from a drug peddler in Vasai.

In ₹381 crore bust, police find MD factory in Mysuru, key supplier to Mumbai

According to the police, they have seized MD worth ₹390 crore in the past three months. The long-drawn investigation began in April this year when the Sakinaka police arrested three people who were selling drugs in the Kaman area of Vasai east. At the time, the police had seized MD weighing 4 kg 53 grams and worth ₹8 crore. The main accused in the case, Salim Sheikh alias Salim Langda, 45, was absconding but the police formed a special team and arrested Langda from Bandra Reclamation two days ago.

Police said that Salim Langada confessed that he was getting MD from a factory in Mysuru in Karnataka. The police then followed the lead and found an MD-making factory operating in a shed covered with blue plastic sheets, not far from the Ring Road in Mysore city.

The police raided the shed and seized 187 kg of MD valued at around ₹381 crore in the illicit market. Apart from the drugs, they also found ovens and beakers along with chemicals like alcohol, chloroform, magnesium sulphate, acetone, etc., used to make MD and other drugs.

Deputy commissioner of police, Zone 10, Datta Nalawade, said that four people have been arrested from the factory. Another police officer added, “The accused used to live there and manufacture the drugs which were then sold to the peddlers through distributors.”

The police are now trying to find the source of the raw materials purchased by the gang, and the role of the four accused. “We are trying to find who was funding the operation and whether they have any drug cartels or manufacturers involved,” said the police officer.