Raw material for party drug worth Rs 270 crore seized from Guj

Gujarat Police has seized 1364 kg of Ephedrine, a raw material used to prepare party drug methamphetamine, from a factory in the city outskirts, with an international market value of Rs 270 crore.
In a joint operation, the city crime branch and state Anti-Terrorist Squad teams last night conducted raids at Riya Industries on Vehlala-Zak road here and seized 1364 kg of Ephedrine and arrested its owner Narendra Kachha.
Police has also named the son of a former Congress MLA Bhavsinh Rathod, Kishorsinh as kingpin of the drug racket, who is yet to be arrested.
"Kishorsinh Rathod and a Mumbai-based Jay Mukhi had procured this drug from Sholapur in Maharashtra from another person named Punit. They gave this durg to Kachha to convert it into crystal math (methamphetamine), a party drug," Joint Commissioner of Police heading the crime branch, J K Bhatt said here.

"Kachha, who has a BSC degree is associated with pharmaceutical business for the last 20 years. Earlier he used to work in different companies and has a wide experience on how to make the party drug from ephedrine," he said.
Ephedrine is a drug used to prevent low blood pressure and also used for 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," Bhatt said.

"They had plans to export this party drug to European countries and also sell it in India," Bhatt said.
Kishorsinh was earlier arrested for possession of fake currency and had been sentenced for five years jail term, Bhatt said adding that his accomplice Jai had a drug case registered against him in Thane in Maharashtra.
"We have formed teams to nab the accused," he said.
"This is the biggest seizure of drug in Gujarat and among one of the biggest in the country also," he claimed.