Chennai:

In a big seizure, the Narcotics Control Bureau in Chennai has recovered 1.8 kg of cocaine and 1.4 kg of MDMA (ecstasy), busting a pan-India network. The consignment, authorities said, is worth Rs 22 crore in the international market. 

A statement by NCB Chennai Zonal Director P Aravindhan said the cocaine was seized from a Bolivian woman passenger when she landed in Chennai on May 9. The drug was found “concealed inside her woollen jacket”. Further investigation led to the arrest of two women – an Indian and a Brazilian – in Mumbai and the recovery of an additional 15 gm of cocaine from the house of the accused.

As part of another joint operation with the Customs Department, the NCB intercepted a parcel from the Netherlands with 1.4 kg of MDMA. Investigators also tracked down and arrested two Nigerians, in Puducherry and Bengaluru, who they suspect were supposed to receive the contraband. 

In March, a film producer and former DMK functionary, Jaffer Sadiq, had been arrested after a four-month manhunt, for allegedly smuggling drugs worth over Rs 2,000 crore out of the country.  The DMK, which is the ruling party in Chennai, had expelled Sadiq and distanced itself from him. 

New Delhi:

The Narcotics Control Bureau has busted three labs manufacturing banned drug Mephedrone, also known as Meow-Meow, in Rajasthan and Gujarat and seized narcotics worth Rs 300 crore.

Seven people involved in running the illegal labs have been arrested, police said, adding that they have identified the kingpin of the network who will be arrested soon.

The labs were discovered after three months of “intensive” technical and ground surveillance by NCB and Gujarat police, NCB Deputy Director General Gyaneshwar Singh said. 

The two agencies conducted joint raids under operation Prayogsala-1. “Information was received by ATS Gujarat Police 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 Headquarters Operations unit was constituted,” NCB said in a statement.

A total of 149 kg of mephedrone along with 50 kg ephedrine and 200 litres of acetone that are used in its production were also recovered from the three labs located in the two districts of Rajasthan and one in Gujarat.

The anti-drugs agency is currently conducting a similar raid in in Gujarat’s Amreli. More recoveries are expected, they said.

Efforts are on to track and identify the source of the chemicals as well as the national and international distribution network. 

This comes after several raids across different states in India have led to the seizure of drugs worth over Rs 4,000 crore so far.

New Delhi:

Being a part of the lucrative movie business was not enough for a Tamil film producer, who chose to mastermind a drug racket that earned his gang nearly Rs 2,000 crore in just three years. 

Officials from the Narcotics Control Bureau said Information was received from customs authorities in New Zealand and the police in Australia that large quantities of pseudoephedrine, a key chemical used to make methamphetamine, were being sent to the countries concealed in desiccated coconut powder or health mixes.  

Methamphetamine, also known as meth or crystal meth, is a drug that is in high demand worldwide, and sells for nearly Rs 1.5 crore a kg in Australia and New Zealand. 

“After inputs from the US Drug Enforcement Administration indicated that the consignments were being sent from Delhi, a joint team of the Delhi police special cell and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) was constituted. After four months of intensive technical and field surveillance, it was learnt that these operatives were in Delhi again and were trying to send another consignment to Australia,” said Gyaneshwar Singh, Deputy Director General, NCB.

Officials said surveillance led them to a godown in West Delhi’s Basai Darapur, where members of the gang were caught trying to conceal pseudoephedrine in a multigrain food mix to smuggle it. Three members of the gang were arrested and 50 kg of the chemical was seized. 

An official said sustained interrogation of the men, who are from Tamil Nadu, revealed that the gang had sent 45 consignments in the past three years, adding up to 3,500 kg of pseudoephedrine, which is worth over Rs 2,000 crore in the international market. 

“The mastermind of the nexus has been identified as a Tamil film producer, who is on the run. We are trying hard to arrest him so that we can find the source of the pseudoephedrine,” an official said. 

The NCB has also reached out to New Zealand and Australian authorities to arrest the people who received the consignments in those countries.