New Delhi, Nov 15 (UNI) The Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday said that the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Rajasthan Police have busted a clandestine laboratory operating in a remote village in the Sirohi district of the state, and seized large amounts of chemicals, which was enough to over 100 kgs of Mephedrone drug.
The seized material has an approximate street price of Rs. 40 crores, while five people have also been arrested by the joint teams, including the mastermind behind the entire illegal setup.
Mephedrone is being increasingly used as a psychotropic drug in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, according to an official statement.
This is part of the ongoing actions against drugs and the central government’s zero tolerance approach against such narcotics substances.
The NCB used the mechanism of monthly district level NCORD (narco coordination centre) meetings to sensitize the district police especially in Rajasthan.
NCORD has been established under the MHA, in a bid to combat drug trafficking with enhanced coordination amongst the different drug law enforcement agencies at the central and state level.
The state police were sensitized about the issue and accordingly, they had reported the presence of drums containing chemicals and lab equipment at an unusual place to the local office of NCB on November 6, as such a place could be a clandestine facility for manufacturing synthetic drugs like Mephedrone.
During investigation of the case, the main accused behind running the illegal laboratory were identified and they were nabbed from different parts of Rajasthan and Gujarat by the NCB, Jodhpur with the assistance of Rajasthan Police.
The mastermind was identified as Vala Ram, who hails from Jalore, Rajasthan, and during interrogation has revealed that he is a graduate and after failing in various exams, he got into the business of manufacturing Mephedrone for making quick money.
He used to communicate with other associates using virtual SIMs and also surfed darknet to learn the manufacturing process.
He sourced the chemicals and lab equipment from Gujarat, and was also wanted in one of the CBN cases of mephedrone trafficking.
The Red flag indicators about the presence of clandestine labs have been already shared by the NCB with district police across all over the country, which help in identification of such facilities.
