483-kg ephedrine worth ₹5cr seized from Palghar, 3 held

Officers from Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a drug racket on Tuesday that was being operated from a Palghar factory. The officers seized 483kg

Officers from Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) busted a drug racket on Tuesday that was being operated from a Palghar factory. The officers seized 483kg of ephedrine in liquid and slurry form, suspected to be worth
₹5 crore, following which, the next day, three people were arrested under relevant sections of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

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Based on a tip-off, officers raided the premises of Jagdamba Chemicals in MIDC, Tarapur. They discovered that the accused, Ravi Singh, Rakesh Khanivadekar and Pradip Thokade, had been producing the ephedrine over the past four days.

Thokade is the owner of the factory and had given the unit to Singh for around ₹6 lakh to manufacture the drug. Singh, a chemist from Boisar, used to look after the processing of ephedrine in the factory and would sell the contraband with Khanivadekar.

DRI officers also raided Khanivadekar’s two residential premises in Vasai and Naigaon, during which they seized some drugs and money worth a total of ₹89 lakh. DRI suspects that the seized money was earned by selling ephedrine.

A DRI officer said that Khanivadekar and Singh have been working together since December 2018.

“Singh would manufacture ephedrine for Khanivadekar on a partnership basis. The duo had together manufactured ephedrine in Boisar and Belgaum, Karnataka, in the past,” the officer said.

After questioning the accused, DRI also raided their factory in Kolhapur.

“The accused had planned to shift the ephedrine manufacturing unit to a remote location in an agricultural belt in Chandgad taluka of Kolhapur. Subsequently, another premise in Kolhapur was also raided and some amount of ephedrine was seized from the location. A laboratory was found established there as a hideout unit for the manufacturing of ephedrine,” said the officer.