NCB busts meth lab in joint operations with Delhi police

Five, including Mexican “cartel’ member and Tihar Jail warden, arrested

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), in coordination with the Delhi police Special Cell, has busted a methamphetamine manufacturing unit in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Budh Nagar, arrested five persons, and seized about 95 kg of the drugs. The laboratory was allegedly set up by a Delhi-based businessman along with a Tihar Jail warden, and a Mexican cartel member was also part of the syndicate. The NCB is yet to reveal their names.

The agency initially received a tip-off about the illegal laboratory being established in the national capital region (NCR) for the production of synthetic drugs like meth for export to other countries as well as consumption in India. Members of the Mexican cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generacion were also said to be involved.

Based on the inputs, the NCB conducted a search in a factory located in the Kasana Industrial Area of Gautam Budh Nagar on October 25 and found about 95 kg of meth in solid and liquid forms.

“Chemicals like acetone, sodium hydroxide, methylene chloride, premium grade ethanol, toluene, red phosphorus, ethyl acetate, etc. and imported machinery for manufacturing were also found. The Special Cell of Delhi police also participated in the operation as the drug network had footprints across several places in NCR of Delhi,” said NCB Deputy Director General (Ops) Gyaneshwar Singh.

He said during preliminary enquiry the agency found that the Delhi-based businessman, who was in the factory at the time of the raid, and the Tihar Jail warden were instrumental in establishing the illegal factory, procuring chemicals required for manufacturing of meth from various sources and importing the machinery.

“The businessman had previously been arrested by the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), in an NDPS (Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances) case and had been lodged in Tihar jail where he came in contact with the jail warden who became his accomplice,” said Mr. Singh.

A chemist from Mumbai was roped in by them for manufacturing the drugs and its was tested by a member of Mexican cartel residing in Delhi.

All the accused were arrested by the NCB and produced before a magistrate on October 27. The court remanded them to three-day police custody.

“In the follow-up action, one important member of the syndicate and close associate of the Delhi businessman was apprehended from the Rajouri Garden area of Delhi and will be produced before the court concerned,” he said.

The NCB is probing the forward and backward linkages, financial trail, and the assets generated by the accused through illegal drug trafficking.

“This year, the NCB has busted such clandestine labs at five locations namely Gandhinagar and Amreli in Gujarat, Jodhpur and Sirohi in Rajasthan, and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh. Earlier this month, a lab was busted in a joint operation with Gujarat ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) in Bagroda Industrial Estate of Bhopal, from where about 907 kg of mephedrone in solid and liquid forms and about 7,000 kg of various chemicals along with the machinery were seized,” Mr. Singh said.

The agency believes that given the low cost of production of synthetic drugs like meth and mephedrone, the drug mafia is increasingly shifting to setting up such labs in the industrial areas to evade detection while transporting precursor materials and machinery. The waste generated from labs and the toxic fumes coming out of chimneys during chemical processing in an industrial area would not attract the attention of local police.

To sensitise the local police about the trend..., the NCB is constantly organising training programmes in various parts of the country. Earlier this month, a five-day session was held in Ahmedabad in collaboration with the Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States, said Mr. Singh.

Published - October 29, 2024 02:38 pm IST