How a psychotropic drug was used to make Pune toddy more potent
Clues obtained in interrogation of man held in Hyderabad helped NCB bust two illegal Alprazolam –making factories in Maharashtra
Mumbai On October 6 last year, the officers of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)’s Mumbai unit intercepted a vehicle near Shirur, Pune, suspecting that it could be connected to a syndicate trafficking psychotropic substances. There was a pungent scent emanating from the four-wheeler. When they found a suspicious powder and some laboratory equipment in the vehicle, the NCB officers knew they were on the right track to achieving their mission: to identify and dismantle a suspected Pune-based inter-state syndicate involved in the manufacture and trafficking of a psychotropic substance, Alprazolam.
Just days ago, the agency had got on the syndicate’s trail after the arrest of one of its alleged members in Hyderabad, Telangana. The NCB team questioned the vehicle’s driver and locals, and learned of the existence of a manufacturing unit in an adjacent locality. Upon reaching the location, which was at a spot inaccessible for vehicles, the officers stumbled upon what looked - and smelled like - a poultry farm. A few metres ahead, they saw what appeared like an abandoned factory shed. A few locals had told the agency that some type of chemical product was made there, sources said.
Inside the shed, the officers found a plethora of laboratory equipment, including pipes, flasks and glassware, along with stocks of a chemical. Tests confirmed that the stored chemical, weighing 173.35 kilogram, was Alprazolam, a psychotropic substance covered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS), for whose manufacture, import or export, a government licence is mandatory. A scheduled drug, Alprazolam is used to manage anxiety and panic disorders and also serves as a sedative. The illegal laboratory was churning out Alprazolam in commercial quantities in contravention of NDPS Act’s provisions. The existence of the innocuous poultry farm by the factory shed was deliberate, to kill the sharp smell of chemicals emanating from the shed, the sources said.
The invisible hands of a chemist’s meticulous supervision was felt at the laboratory as making Alprazolam is a complex process, a source said. One man who was present at the factory in Shirur was arrested. His interrogation revealed that there was another such clandestine laboratory was functioning nearby, at Narayangaon, Pune. The agency busted the second laboratory too, from where they seized 25.95 kg of illicitly-manufactured Alprazolam, along with a huge stock of raw material. This time, the laboratory stood by a chikoo farm, whose sweet fragrance overpowered the smell of chemicals.
It was suspected that both the laboratories, from where the 199 kg of Alprazolam worth around ₹50 crore in illicit markets were discovered, were being run by a single syndicate, the sources said.
The toddy connection
The NCB learnt that the huge quantity of Alprazolam found at the two laboratories was meant allegedly to be sold to partners in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, where it would be mixed with toddy – or palm wine - to make the alcoholic beverage “more potent illegally”, a source said. It was suspected that the syndicate had initially set up the laboratories to mainly cater to the demand of illicit Alprazolam in commercial quantities in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh for their partners who mixed it with toddy, the source said.
The first lead
Around 10 days ago before the vehicle carrying Alprazolam and lab equipment was halted in Shirur, based on a tip-off, the NCB had arrested a man in Hyderabad for allegedly possessing 20 kg of Alprazolam. During his interrogation, the man allegedly divulged that he had brought the psychotropic substance to Hyderabad from Maharashtra, the sources said. The accused allegedly said that the consignment was meant to be supplied to local networks specialising in mixing it with toddy to enhance its strength.
The man was brought to Mumbai and interrogated by NCB’s Mumbai zonal unit’s officers. The arrested accused explained that he was from Telangana and that he ran a toddy shop of his own in Pune and so had intimate knowledge of the toddy business. The accused told the NCB officers that it was he who discovered the lucrative potential of supplying illicitly-made Alprazolam in commercial quantities to toddy suppliers in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, who mix the substance with toddy to spice it up, sources said. When he shared his idea with others a few years ago in the syndicate, a decision was taken to set up the two laboratories, the source said. The search of an alleged key controller of the syndicate and the chemist, who helped set up the two illicit makeshift laboratories began thereafter, the source said.
Search on for chemist
After months of intelligence-gathering operations and surveillance, NCB’s Mumbai zonal unit’s officers traced the location of the alleged controller of the syndicate last month. The accused, who is from Pune, was arrested from a suburb of Mumbai. The agency suspected that the accused could have lived outside Maharashtra, potentially in Uttar Pradesh, for some time while being on the run, as per sources. The arrested accused was identified by the agency as the alleged co-financer and owner of one of the busted laboratories, while he held a stake in the other laboratory, whose alleged owner was nabbed earlier, the sources said.
The agency has arrested four persons in the case so far, including the accused, who went to Hyderabad for the alleged sale of Alprazolam, and a female associate of the accused arrested in a Mumbai suburb. The NCB is searching for the chemist who helped set up the two laboratories.
The agency is also probing the syndicate’s alleged tentacles in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which appear to be key destinations for illegally manufactured and diverted Alprazolam, sources said. Last May, another agency, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, had also busted a clandestine laboratory at Nagar Kurnool district of Telangana, seizing 31.42 kg of Alprazolam and nabbed an accused. The laboratory was located at a remote poultry farm amid agricultural fields on the margins of the Vattem village. The seizure included 31.42 kg of Alprazolam (valued at ₹3.14 crore in the illicit market) and raw material.