25-cr party drug Meow Meow seized, 8 arrested

NEW DELHI: The Delhi police on Tuesday claimed to have busted an international drug racket with the arrest of eight men and recovery of 14.2kg of mephedrone drug,

NEW DELHI: The Delhi police on Tuesday claimed to have busted an international drug racket with the arrest of eight men and recovery of 14.2kg of mephedrone drug, also commonly known as Meow Meow.

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The police said the value of the drugs seized was around ` 25 crore in the international market. Cops suspect the kingpin of the drug chain is Kailash, a resident of Mumbai.

DCP (special cell) Sanjeev Yadav said that on July 23, they arrested Mohammed Faizan Ahmed, a Mumbai resident, who had around a kilo of the drug.

Faizan’s interrogation led to the arrest of the other gang members -- Surender Singh, Rishi Koli, Guddu Yadav, Manoj Sanger, Sanjay Khanna, Deepak Parashar and Mahender Singh Rana.

Police said they had recovered 9 kg of Meow Meow from Rana, who told police he had received the consignment from a customs employee. Police are probing the identity of the customs official, who is suspected to have helped the gang smuggle the drug into the country.

“According to our information, Kailash is in Dubai and is wanted in a similar case in Mumbai. Kailash and his close associate, Arif, with the help of some government or semi-government officials, have been supplying the drug across borders, especially to the entire Middle East and even to the US and UK,” said DCP Yadav.

The eight men told police Meow Meow is the most common party drug and is cheaper than cocaine. Investigating officers said while a gram of cocaine costs more than Rs 5,000, Meow meow is sold for less than Rs 1,000 for the same quantity. Meow Meow is usually sold in pouches of 10 grams.

“The criminals said peddling in Meow Meow is safer as compared to cocaine as the police has very less information about the drug,” said an officer. Faizan said most drug peddlers mix Ajinomoto (Chinese seasoning) with Meow Meow to fool buyers.

Police are scanning the call details of Sanjay Khanna, a Vasant Kunj resident, and Mahender Rana to find out their contacts in the customs department.

The two bought auctioned goods from the customs department and had met while purchasing the seized goods.