MBVV crime branch busts MD factory, seizes durgs worth ₹36 cr

The officers said that Pinjara was the mastermind of manufacturing the drug, while the other accused were peddlers and accomplices of Pinjara. The officers said that the chemicals used to make the drug were ordered by Pinjara who used to work in a chemical factory in Hyderabad from where he had learnt how to manufacture MD from scratch

MUMBAI: The crime branch of Mira Bhayander - Vasai-Virar police on Sunday busted a Mephedrone (MD) manufacturing factory set up in a farmhouse at Mokhada in Palghar. The police have arrested seven people and seized 18.100 kgs of MD worth ₹36 crore.

The crime branch raided the factory in Palghar on Sunday. (Azim Tamboli)

On October 18, the police arrested four peddlers, including Vishal Godse, Deepak Godse, Sunny Salekar, and Shahbaaz Sheikh, and seized a country-made pistol, two live cartridges, and 251 grams of MD.

On inquiry, the police learnt about another accused named Tanveer Chaudhary. On arresting him, the police found 102 grams of MD in his possession and a car which he used for selling the drug.

“We questioned Tanveer and learnt about a man named Gautam Ghosh, who was arrested on October 21,” said a Crime branch official.

While questioning Ghosh, the name of Sameer Chandrashekhar Pinjara, 45, cropped up. Pinjara was detained after they interrogated him and conducted a raid on his farmhouse in Mokhada and found 18.100kgs of MD, raw material required to prepare the synthetic drug and equipment to manufacture MD from the farmhouse.

The officers said that Pinjara was the mastermind of manufacturing the drug, while the other accused were peddlers and accomplices of Pinjara. The officers said that the chemicals used to make the drug were ordered by Pinjara who used to work in a chemical factory in Hyderabad from where he had learnt how to manufacture MD from scratch.

Apart from Pinjara, all the other six accused have cases against them of assault, peddling, etc.

Pinjara, a resident of Vasai had come to Mumbai from Hyderabad after the pandemic and bought the farmhouse in Mokhada. Pinjara then set up the factory in 2021 and has been manufacturing MD for the past one and a half years.

“We are now finding out about Pinjara’s other accomplices and clients who were being sold MD,” said a police officer from MBVV crime branch.