Mokhada MD factory bust: Peddlers used Mira Road lodge as distribution hub

The peddlers, the officer said, used to take the MD to a room at the lodge — Vinyasa Residency— in Mira Road where they had equipment to sort the MD and make small packets. “The four arrested peddlers had rented a room at Vinyasa Residency 10 days ago. They were found preparing small packets when we raided the room and arrested them on a tip-off,” said Gangurde.

MUMBAI: The Mira Bhayander – Vasai Virar (MBVV) crime branch, which busted the Mephedrone (MD) factory in a farmhouse in Palghar district on Sunday, have found a lodge in Mira Road which was being used as a distribution hub for the MD.

(Azim Tamboli)

Police officials said that the synthetic stimulant was allegedly manufactured single-handedly by Sameer Chandrashekhar Pinjara, 45, the mastermind of the gang, in his farmhouse at Mokhada, Palghar, for one and half years.

The drug was packed in small packets in the room rented by the gang in the lodge. The small packets were then distributed to peddlers to sell to end consumers, police officials said. Pinjara used to stay alone in the farmhouse and manufacture drugs alone and his close aide, Gautam Ghosh, 38, was the only link between the manufacturer and the peddlers. The factory, which was raided by the crime branch, seized drugs worth ₹36 crore and arrested seven people, was set up by Pinjara in a remote location that only Ghosh knew about.

Prashant Gangurde, sub-inspector, Unit 1, MBVV crime branch, said that Ghosh, a Dahisar resident, was in touch with Pinjara, who used to drop off the drugs with Ghosh, who in turn distributed the same to the peddlers to sort and make small packets, containing a few grams of MD and sell them to clients.

The peddlers, the officer said, used to take the MD to a room at the lodge — Vinyasa Residency— in Mira Road where they had equipment to sort the MD and make small packets. “The four arrested peddlers had rented a room at Vinyasa Residency 10 days ago. They were found preparing small packets when we raided the room and arrested them on a tip-off,” said Gangurde. Before renting a room in the lodge, the four men used to make packets in Ghosh’s house or other lodges in the region, Gangurde said. “The farmhouse was not accessible easily from the highway which is why it was hidden and since no one else moved inside or out of the farmhouse, no local suspected that something wrong was going on there and even the foul smell emanating from the drug-making process also was not noticed by anyone,” said Gangurde. The police said that Pinjara used to order some chemicals online and material which is easily available in the market like ash to make MD, was purchased from the stores. He used to manufacture at least one kg of MD in three to four days depending on the availability of the raw materials.

“We are now finding out the client list of the peddlers who were involved in the drug bust,” said a police officer.

On October 18, the police arrested Vishal Godse, Deepak Dubey, Shahbaaz Shaikh, and Sunny Salekar from the lodge and seized 251 grams of MD from them. The police had also seized a country-made pistol and two live cartridges. On inquiry, the police learnt about a man named Tanveer Chaudhary who had supplied them with the drug. On arresting him, the police found 102 grams of MD in his possession and a car in which he was selling the drug.

“We questioned Tanveer and learnt about Gautam Ghosh who was arrested on October 21,” said a police officer from Crime branch MBVV. The name of Pinjara cropped up when the police questioned Ghosh after which the police raided his farmhouse and arrested him with 18.100kg of MD and equipment to manufacture it.