Mumbai: Thane Police raided a drug manufacturing unit in Uttar Pradesh, arrested two people and seized mephedrone in quantity worth Rs 2.64 crore.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shivraj Patil said a team of Thane Police's Crime Branch, along with the Varanasi Special Task Force (STF), raided the factory in Pindra village of Bhagwatipur in Varanasi on March 16.
He said the police seized 2.6 kg of mephedrone worth Rs 2.64 crore besides materials, accessories, machinery and vehicles from the factory premises.
The total value of the property during this process was Rs 27.8 crore.
Thane Police was investigating a racket related to drug smuggling and sale. They arrested four people from Kasarvadavali area in January and February.
Police seized 4.81 grams of Mephedrone worth Rs 14 lakh from the accused. They were residents of Vasai and surrounding areas, the officer said.
During interrogation, the accused told the police about Om Gupta alias Monu. Gupta was running a medicine manufacturing unit along with his associates.
A team led by Sub Inspector Dilip Patil and Varanasi Special Task Force (STF) raided the factory located in Pindra. After the search operation they found Atul Ashok Kumar Singh. (aged 26) and Santosh Hadabadi Gupta (aged 38) were arrested, the officer said.
Through these raids, the police were successful in accessing the drug manufacturing and sales network.
Recently, various factories manufacturing Mephedrone in Pune, Nashik, Solapur and other cities have been raided and medicines worth crores of rupees have been seized. The situation has become worrying due to the increase in the quantity of buying and selling of medicines in Maharashtra.