Sakinaka police bust MD factory in Vasai, seize contraband worth ₹8 cr

The suspected manufacturer is on the run and the police are questioning several others to figure out who else is involved in the manufacturing

MUMBAI: The police on Sunday busted a mephedrone (MD) manufacturing unit that had been operating out of a paver block-making factory in Vasai for several months. Raw materials and equipment worth ₹8 crore were recovered from the factory. The breakthrough came after a drug peddler from Bandra and a distributor from Mira Road were arrested last week.

Sakinaka police bust MD factory in Vasai, seize contraband worth ₹8 cr

The drug peddler, identified as Sadiq Salim Shaikh, 28, is a resident of Rahul Nagar in Bandra West. The anti-narcotics squad of the Sakinaka police were patrolling near St Jude Circle on Thursday when they picked up Shaikh upon suspicion. ₹10 lakh worth of contraband was seized from his possession.

“During interrogation, Shaikh revealed that the drugs were supplied to him to be sold in and around Bandra by Siraj Panjwani, a Mira Road resident. Following this, Panjwani was arrested on Saturday,” said police inspector Sanjay Kshirsagar of the Sakinaka police station.

Upon questioning Panjwani, he revealed the name of Kaluram Choudhary, the suspected manufacturer. After Choudhary supplies Panjwani with the drug, he would distribute it among drug peddlers in the city, added the officer.

A police team arrived at Vasai on Sunday to arrest Choudhary but could not find him. During further investigation, the police found a separate unit inside a paver blocks factory in Kaman Village in Vasai, where MD was manufactured, said the officer.

Among the seized items were 4kg of MD, raw materials, and manufacturing equipment such as a 300-litre freezer used to crystallise solids and a centrifugal machine used to make solids from liquid chemical mixtures, said the official.

The police are searching for Chowdhary and questioning several others to figure out who else is involved in the manufacturing, said senior inspector Yogesh Shinde of the Sakinaka police station.

The accused were produced before a metropolitan magistrate court and are remanded in police custody till Tuesday.