Gujarat ATS seizes ₹30 crore Mephedrone in Daman; one arrested, two absconding

Police seized 5.9 kg of mephedrone worth ₹30 crore after raiding a clandestine factory in Daman and a storage facility in Gujarat’s Vapi

Published on: Oct 4, 2025, 11:12:44 IST

By Maulik Pathak

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Daman police arrested a history-sheeter and seized 5.9 kg of mephedrone worth ₹30 crore after raiding a clandestine factory in Daman, a Union Territory, and a storage facility in Gujarat’s Vapi, police said on Friday.

The trio was allegedly manufacturing mephedrone at a farmhouse near Bamanpuja in Daman, behind an excise checkpoint (Representative photo)

Mohan Narayanlal Paliwal, a known offender, was arrested during Thursday’s raid, while two others — Mehul Thakur and Vivek Balendra Rai — remain at large, a police officer said, adding that all three are residents of Vapi in Valsad district. “During the raid, authorities disrupted an active mephedrone production process at the Daman farmhouse, seizing 5.9 kg of mephedrone in solid and liquid forms from the Vapi bungalow, along with 300 kg of raw materials and equipment like grinders, motors, glass flasks, and heaters,” an officer said.

The trio was allegedly manufacturing mephedrone at a farmhouse near Bamanpuja in Daman, behind an excise checkpoint, and storing it in a bungalow owned by Manoj Singh Thakur in Vapi’s Chala area, for distribution to Mumbai, according to police officers.

Paliwal, who had previously been arrested in two cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, was on the run after jumping parole, a senior Gujarat ATS officer said. “Interrogation revealed that he, along with Thakur and Rai, had been operating the illicit setup for three to four months, producing the drug at the Daman site and storing it in Vapi for sale. Paliwal provided key details during questioning,” he said.

“The seized raw materials, valued at ₹50–60 lakhs, had the potential to produce an additional 20–30 kg of mephedrone. The accused were planning to establish a larger manufacturing facility in the region, but authorities apprehended them before they could execute their plans,” he added.

A case has been registered against all three accused at the ATS police station in Ahmedabad, with investigations underway to trace their sales network, financial dealings, and potential cartel links.

The accused have been booked under various offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, including Section 21 (punishment for manufacturing and possessing psychotropic substances), Section 22 (penalties for psychotropic substance offenses), and Section 29 (abetment and conspiracy in drug-related crimes), for offences involving the illegal production, possession, storage, and intended trafficking of the banned synthetic stimulant.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maulik Pathak
He is an Ahmedabad-based journalist with more than two decades of experience. His career spans business journalism and general news, with reporting across politics, crime, governance, public policy, business, industry, infrastructure, energy, ports, aviation, the environment, wildlife and social issues. He began his career in feature writing before moving into business journalism, reporting on companies and sectors including energy, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, automobiles and real estate. Over the years, his work expanded to politics, courts, crime, public policy, civic affairs, the environment and wildlife. His reporting has taken him from government offices and courtrooms to factory floors, ports, forests and remote villages, covering stories that range from industrial investments and financial markets to elections, conservation and issues affecting everyday life. While many assignments demand the pace of the daily news cycle, others require sustained reporting over months and years to follow developments beyond the headlines. He started his journalism career with the Asian Age in Ahmedabad in 2002 as a feature writer and sub-editor. Since 2022, he has been working with Hindustan Times. Earlier, he worked with Business Standard, DNA, The Economic Times, Mint and The Times of India. His longest stint was with Mint, where he spent more than eight years reporting across multiple beats. During his career, he has worked in both reporting and editing roles, contributing to page planning, local editions and special editorial projects as newsrooms evolved from print-first operations to digital publishing. Early in his career, he also worked on media and documentary projects with an NGO and as a copywriter at a communications agency before returning to journalism. Away from work, he sometimes makes time for a pair of binoculars, table tennis, cinema and the occasional poem.Read More

Get the latest India News, breaking headlines and real-time updates from across the country. Stay informed about politics, government policies, crime, weather and major national developments.