New Delhi: A joint team of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and ATS of Gujarat Police on Saturday busted an inter-state drugs network in Gujarat and Rajasthan and sealed three state-of-the-art laboratories. Drugs worth Rs 300 crore were seized as part of an anti-drug drive codenamed “Operation Prayagshala."
Disclosing this here on Saturday, deputy director general of NCB Gyaneshwar Singh said that seven persons have been apprehended till now in the operation that started on Friday night. “The kingpin of the drug network has been identified and he will be arrested soon. The investigation is still on and the distribution network is being probed,” Singh said.
Singh tagged this operation as the finest example of an inter-agency coordinated operation. “ATS Gujarat Police received the information from a confidential source regarding clandestine Mephedrone manufacturing labs operating from Gujarat and Rajasthan. To bust these labs, a joint team of ATS Gujarat Police and NCB operation unit was constituted. For the last three months we kept a close surveillance to identify the persons involved in this network as well as locations of clandestine labs,” he said.
Singh said that around 4 am simultaneous raids were conducted by joint teams of ATS Gujarat Police and NCB at three suspected locations (Bhinmal in Jalore district of Rajasthan, Osian in Jodhpur district of Rajasthan and Gandhinagar district in Gujarat) leading to a total recovery of 149 kg mephedrone (in powder and liquid form), 50 kg Ephedrine and 200 litres Acetone and seven accused were arrested.
“Based on the interrogation of the apprehended persons in Gandhinagar, another site has been identified in Amreli of Gujarat where raids are in progress. More recoveries are expected,” he said.
He said that the kingpin of this network has been identified and will be arrested soon. “Efforts are being made to track and identify the source of precursor chemicals as well as the distribution network, national as well as any international linkages,” he said. It is worth mentioning that Mephedrone, also known as 4-methylmethcathinone, 4-MMC, and 4-methylephedrone, is a synthetic stimulant drug of the amphetamine and cathinone classes. The common names of the drug include drone, M-CAT, White Magic, “meow meow” and bubble.
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