Mephedrone (MD) racket running from pharma factory in Nashik busted
Source: Hindustan Times
Mumbai: The arrest of a local drug peddler two months ago led the police to a factory in Nashik that was manufacturing mephedrone (MD) under the garb of a pharmaceutical factory. So far, 12 persons have been arrested, and over 150 kgs of MD worth more than ₹300 crore have been seized.
According to the police, the mastermind behind the drug racket is the infamous brothers Bhushan and Lalit Patil.
It all started when the police picked up a local drug peddler on August 8. He led them to another accused, Anwar Afsar Sayyad, 42, who supplied drugs to local peddlers. He led them to his suppliers from Dharavi, Javed Khan, 27, Asif Sheikh, 30, and Iqbal Mohammed Ali, 30, who in turn led to three others, Sundar Shaktivel, 44, Hasan Sheikh, 43, and Ayub Sayyed, 32. From all of them, 110 grams of MD was recovered.
“These were all a level above the others in the hierarchy of drug peddling. We realised that if we keep going higher among their ranks, we would be able to reach the very top level,” one of the investigating officers from Sakinaka police station said.
He added that they have been working for the past two months on this case, travelling between Nashik, Pune and Mumbai. They also went to Hyderabad to arrest the next in line of the hierarchy, Arif Sheikh, 42, who was found in possession of 110 grams of MD, a country-made pistol and seven live cartridges.
Similarly, Nasir Umar Sheikh alias Chacha, 58, who supplied drugs to all the peddlers across south Mumbai, was arrested. He was found in possession of 1,250 grams of MD.
Nasir used to get the drugs from Kalyan residents Rehan and Azhar Ansari, who were found to have stored 15 kilos of MD, another police officer said, adding, “These two led us to Zeeshan Sheikh, 34, at Nashik Road. When we reached there, we found a factory named Shri Ganeshay Pharmaceuticals in which the drugs were being manufactured and supplied to peddlers across the state.”
Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Satyanarayan Chaudhary said that Mumbai Police has zero tolerance for drugs. He was confident that all the accused would soon be arrested.
According to sources, the mastermind behind the operation is Lalit, who was found to be running a drug racket from Pune’s Sassoon Hospital a few days ago. “His brother Bhushan was doing the on-ground work based on Lalit’s instructions. Both the brothers are on the run,” the officer said.
