It isn’t clear if they knew about Walter White from the series ‘Breaking Bad’. But the comparisons are inevitable.
A 35-year-old chemistry teacher at a private school in Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan, and a 25-year-old science teacher in a government school in the same city, were arrested for manufacturing the drug mephedrone in an apartment that served as a clandestine laboratory, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said on Monday .
Mephedrone (4-Methylmethcathinone), also known as MD, is a synthetic stimulant drug in the cathinone family. Walter White is a high school chemistry teacher who turns to manufacturing meth after being diagnosed with lung cancer in the series ‘Breaking Bad’.
“During the search conducted in a flat located in Dream Homes Apartments, Ridhi Sindhi Enclave, Sri Ganganagar in the early hours on July 8, 2025, the NCB team recovered about 780 gram of MD. Besides, a lot of precursor chemicals, namely Acetone, Benzene, Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate, Bromine, Methylamine, Isopropyl Alcohol, 4 Methyl Propiophenone, N Methyl 2 Pyrrolidone and lab equipment were recovered, which are used in the manufacturing of synthetic drugs,” said Neeraj Gupta, deputy director general of the NCB.
The two men rented the flat, where they were arrested, for ₹10,000 per month two months ago, NCB said. The agency is investigating who peddled the drugs they were manufacturing. Their raw material supply, Gupta said, came from Delhi.
{{/usCountry}}The two men rented the flat, where they were arrested, for ₹10,000 per month two months ago, NCB said. The agency is investigating who peddled the drugs they were manufacturing. Their raw material supply, Gupta said, came from Delhi.
{{/usCountry}}The arrests follow a recent NCB alert to state police forces about similar clandestine laboratories mushrooming across the country.
NCB chief Anurag Garg in a letter to the police chiefs last month listed some red flags.
They include: buildings with covered or blacked-out windows and CCTV around the perimeter; strong odours of chemicals such as ammonia, solvents, vinegar, cat urine; unusual ventilation equipment or external ducting; unusual high electricity usage; presence of large quantities of household of industrial chemicals; lab equipment, gloves, plastic containers or tubing discarded in garbage; complaints from locals about burning eyes, headaches or strange smells; frequent deliveries of unlabelled boxes of containers, often in small trucks, and residents of such premises showing signs of paranoia, evasiveness or denying access.
The two men, who have been friends for 15 years, said they were under debt and decided to manufacture the drug in the flat they rented to pay off the debt, NCB officials said, adding that the men said they sold their product through a middleman and efforts are underway to identify the person.