Drug making unit busted; CEO, five others arrested

Police said that Alprazolam (Xanax) — a psychotropic drug — was allegedly manufactured in a unit of Biocase Foods and Extracts Pvt. Ltd

A factory manufacturing and supplying Xanax in Delhi-NCR region was busted by the Crime Branch, and six persons, including the CEO of a herbal healthcare company, have been arrested, the police said on Friday.

The accused have been identified as Rajender Kumar Mishra, Ram Ashish Maurya, Deepak Kumar and Mukesh Kumar, who were involved in supplying the drug. Two others, Naveen Aggarwal and Anand Kumar, were owners of different factories.

Mr. Aggarwal owns two companies namely Nutriley Pvt. Ltd. and Biocase Foods & Extracts Pvt. Ltd in Hisar, Haryana. He is also a recipient of the Indian Achiever’s Award and was given the ‘CEO of the Year’ award last year, police said. Mr. Anand Kumar owns a pharmaceutical company, Sakshi Enterprises Ltd and was also involved in trading the substances, DCP (crime) Amit Goel said.

Police said that Alprazolam (Xanax) — a psychotropic drug — was allegedly manufactured in a unit of Biocase Foods and Extracts Pvt. Ltd.

Earlier this year on March 23, after a tip-off police arrested Mr. Mishra from Delhi’s Brijpuri and busted the supply chain. Around 18 kg of Alprazolam powder was recovered from his possession, police said. During interrogation, Mr. Mishra disclosed that he was a carrier and procured Alprazolam from Mr. Maurya, a resident of Brijpuri and delivered them to Mr. Anand, a resident of Karawal Nagar.

Further raids were conducted to arrest Mr. Maurya and Mr. Anand and ₹1 crore was recovered from their houses, Mr. Goel said. Subsequently, Mr. Deepak Kumar was arrested who disclosed that Alprazolam powder was manufactured at the factory owned by Mr. Aggarwal. After his arrest, the police and forensic teams found traces of Alprazolam powder during a search of the factory, the DCP said.

Published - September 28, 2024 12:53 am IST