Anushka Rajvedi, Pune
Four people from Gujarat and Maharashtra were arrested when drugs valued ₹ 800 crore were seized by the officials.
Early this week, the Anti-Terrorist squad caught four individuals in action who were supposedly involved in the production and sale of drugs valued at approximately ₹ 800 crores. In a raid operation, the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in Thane, recovered 800 kilograms of mephedrone, an empathogen-stimulant drug, in the form of liquid worth’s ₹ 800 crore in the open market. This drug was made using many chemicals developed by two men, Mohammad Yunus Shaikh (41) and his younger brother Mohammad Adil Shaikh (34) in an apartment that they had rented eight months ago. When they first tried to develop the drug, they failed. However, in the later time, they were able to produce the drugs and prepared the process to convert them from liquid to powder. It was then that the ATS had raided their apartment.
It was also revealed that the ATS had conducted a raid operation on 18 July 2024 in the Palsana area of Surat in Gujarat, which led to the arrest of three individuals who were caught in the process of manufacturing the mephedrone drug valued ₹ 51.4 crores in the market. This operation led the ATS to the Shaikh brothers who were primarily involved in the production and supply of the drug as claimed by the three arrested individuals.
During their other operation in Gujarat, the ATS arrested two more people- Pankaj Rajput and Nikhil Kapuria who were involved in the manufacturing and supply of tramadol, a psychotropic drug which by NDPS Act 2018, comes under the opioid pain medication. It was revealed that Nikhil Kapuria, who owned a chemical factory instructed Pankaj Rajput, the chief of the chemical factory, to manufacture the drugs. A firm owner from Ahmedabad, Harshad Kukadiya used to supply raw materials to Kapuria who then passed them on to Rajput. It was then sent to a factory in Gandhinagar by Kakadiya to process the liquid into tablets. During their raid in a pharmaceutical unit in Dahej, liquid tramadol of value ₹ 31 crore was found.
The ATS is hunting down the others who are involved in the drug racket.