In a major crackdown against narcotics, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has busted a mobile mephedrone manufacturing unit in Maharashtra’s Satara district and seized banned drugs worth around ₹55 crore. So far, five accused have been arrested in the case, including the “cook” involved in the production of the synthetic drug.
According to DRI sources, acting on specific intelligence inputs, teams carried out a raid on Friday in a remote village of Karad taluka. During the operation, officials detected a fully operational laboratory equipped with machines and chemicals required for manufacturing mephedrone.
Investigations revealed that the illegal factory was camouflaged as a poultry farm to avoid suspicion. Sources said the accused frequently changed the location of the unit to evade detection by enforcement agencies.
During the raid, mephedrone was recovered in various forms — 11.848 kg in liquid form, 9.326 kg in semi-liquid form and 738 grams in crystal form. In addition, 71.5 kg of raw material was seized, which could have been used to produce around 15 kg of more mephedrone. The total value of the seized drugs and materials in the international market has been estimated at approximately ₹55 crore.
Three persons were arrested from the spot, including the drug manufacturer, the financier-cum-consigner and the owner of the poultry farm. The probe also revealed that the first batch of the finished product had been hidden at the farm owner’s residence.
In a follow-up operation, DRI officials arrested two more accused near an old octroi toll naka in a dense forest area, where they had arrived to collect the final consignment.
Sources further stated that four of the five arrested accused have previous cases registered against them under the NDPS Act or have faced action under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
DRI sources said efforts are on to trace other links in the network, and more arrests are likely in the coming days.