Rs 270-cr drug haul: ATS nabs ex-MLA's son Kishorsinh Rathod

The Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Monday arrested former Congress MLA Bhavsinh Rathod's son Kishorsinh Rathod for his alleged involvement in a racket of supplying raw material worth Rs 270 crore to prepare party drug — methamphetamine.

Kishorsinh was absconding ever since he was named as the kingpin of a drug racket unearthed in April 2016 when Gujarat police had seized 1364 kgs of Ephedrine, a raw material used to prepare party drug methamphetamine, during a raid at a factory nine months back.

According to officials, Kishorsinh was nabbed by a team of ATS in Chambal area on the border of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

"A team of ATS nabbed Kishorsinh from Chambal area on the border of Rajasthan and MP this morning. He was hiding there since some time. He was on the run after we unearthed the drug racket and found his involvement in it," said Superintendent of Police, ATS, Himanshu Shukla.

In one of biggest drug seizures of Gujarat, city crime branch and state ATS teams has seized 1364 kgs of Ephedrine worth Rs 270 crore after raiding a factory on the outskirts of a city in April this year.

At that time, police had arrested the factory owner Narendra Kachha while a hunt was launched for Kishorsinh, as police found him to be the kingpin behind the racket.

It was alleged that Kishorsinh along with his accomplice Jay Mukhi had procured this drug from Sholapur in Maharashtra and gave it to Kachha to convert it into crystal math (methamphetamine).

Ephedrine is a drug used to prevent low blood pressure, asthma, narcolepsy and obesity. It is a schedule A controlled substance and as per the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act section 9(1) its purchase, sale and possession and import, export are banned without license.

Crystal Math (methamphetamine) is prepared from Ephedrine which has a huge demand in India and abroad, said officials. It was alleged that Kishorsinh and his accomplices had planned to export this party drug to European countries and also sell it in India.

During the course of investigation, ATS also learned that Kishorsinh was in contact with alleged international drug mafia Vicky Goswami, who is believed to be in Kenya.

"Vikcy Goswami is also an accused in this case and yet to be arrested," said SP Shukla.