Three more arrested in mephedrone seizure case

The Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra police has arrested alleged kingpin of a mephedrone (MD) supply racket and two others, and sealed two factories in Panvel and Sangli, an official said on Wednesday.

This takes the number of persons arrested in the case to eight.

The ATS busted a major drug racket on September 9 by arresting five persons in suburban Bhandup here, seizing 129 kg of mephedrone -- a banned narcotic drug -- worth more than Rs 51 crore, and cash of Rs 1 crore.

Investigation revealed that mephedrone was produced in a factory in Panvel in neighboring Raigad district, said Vikram Deshmane, Deputy Commissioner of Police, ATS.

ATS sleuths raided the factory and seized sophisticated equipment and chemicals used in production of mephedrone, Deshmane said.

The arrested men told police that a 35-year-old Sangli resident, known as 'Doctor', was the kingpin, the officer said, without revealing his name.

He was arrested on September 14.

This alleged kingpin was working with a chemical factory as a production supervisor earlier, where he got knowledge about manufacturing of mephedrone, Deshmane said.

After quitting the job, he started making mephedrone, Deshmane said.

Police recovered 25 kg of raw material from his factory in Sangli. The information given by him led to the arrest of Zuber and Salim, who allegedly sold mephedrone, from Mumbai. Five kg of the drug was seized from their possession.

So far the ATS has seized 133.9 kg of the drug, raw materials required to produce around 25 kg of mephedrone and Rs 1.12 crore in cash.