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Gujarat chemical engineer arrested over ₹500 crore narcotics recovery
Jitesh Hinhoria, a chemical engineer and a former pharma employee was found possessing 23,000 litre of chemicals destined for the illegal production of drugs.
The Ahmedabad crime branch, along with the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), arrested two people, including a Surat-based chemical engineer from Maharashtra's Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, for running a narcotics empire that supplied drugs to numerous cities across India including for exclusive and high-profile rave parties.
The team has also seized narcotics along with drugs' raw materials worth over ₹500 crore.
Jitesh Hinhoria, a chemical engineer and a former pharma employee, was allegedly found in possession of 23000 litres of chemicals destined for the illegal production of mind-altering substances including ketamine, mephedrone and cocaine.
According to the officials, a factory named Mahalakshmi Industries located in Paithan was allegedly involved in the production of mind-altering substances -- Mephedrone and Ketamine. Following the high-stake joint operation, a total of 4.5kg of Mephedrone, 4.3kg of Ketamine and another mixture of 9.3kg Mephedrone was recovered from the site. The illicit market value of the entire haul of narcotics drugs and raw chemicals was reported to be more than ₹500 crore.
"We had inputs that a person from Surat city, now residing in Aurangabad was running a narcotics racket. Based on specific intelligence developed by DRI Ahmedabad Zonal Unit and Crime Branch, Ahmedabad Police, search operations were conducted by DRI at various locations in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar on Friday under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985,” Chaitanya Mandlik, DCP Crime Branch, Gujarat police, said.
Additionally, the search of the residential premises of one of the accused resulted in the recovery of about 23 Kg of cocaine, about 2.9 Kg of Mephedrone and ₹30 lakh cash.
According to the report by Times of India, Hinhoria allegedly had been into the narcotics production business for one-and-a-half years. He also established his underground operation in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The engineer used to distribute cocaine in Mumbai and other drugs in Ratlam, Indore, Delhi, Chennai and Surat, the report added.
