Thane police with UP STF bust interstate drug racket

Police said the market value of the haul is Rs 20.18 crore. Representation pic

The Thane police crime branch with the help of Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) busted an interstate mephedrone racket resulting in the arrest of six persons and seizure of raw material with a market value of Rs 20.18 crore. The racket was busted following the investigation by Thane police crime branch which started with the arrest of a drug peddler for possession of 15 grams of mephedrone. Thane crime branch deputy commissioner of police Shivraj Patil confirmed the arrests. With the recent action the total number of persons arrested in this case has gone to 13.

The police said the accused persons were arrested from Varanasi and Azamgarh and also two cars were seized. The police during investigation found that this accused had brought the raw material or chemical for the making of the mephedrone from Vapi in Gujarat.

"The six arrested were produced in local UP court for a transit remand and will be brought to Thane. Three of the accused are said to be from Varanasi, one from Jaunpur and one each from Maharashtra and Gujarat," said a police officer from Thane crime branch. The police said the seizure includes around 20 kg of chemicals, 11 mobiles and one Hyundai Creta car and one Mahindra Thar car.

The team comprising police inspector Dilip Patil, along with assistant police inspector Rupali Pol and other team members had started the investigation in February. The crime branch had arrested a person with 15 grams of mephedrone and the investigation further led to a factory in Varanasi. "The drug was manufactured in a factory located in a farm in Varanasi and was being supplied by the accused persons to Mumbai and other parts of the state. The factory was located in Varanasi as it was considered risky to locate the factory in Mumbai and its suburbs owing to police vigilance. In the operation we had initially arrested seven people leading to the information about the manufacturers and suppliers. Now we have arrested six more persons taking the number of persons arrested to 13," said the police officer.

After receiving information about the suspects hiding in Varanasi and Azamgarh, the Thane crime branch took help of STF inspector Amit Srivastava and his team. Search operation was carried out at different hideouts and six people were arrested to seize the raw material and mobile phones. "Sandeep Tiwari was arrested from Ausanganj near Varanasi, while Lalit Pathak from Holapur in Varanasi. Nilesh Pandey, Vijay Pal, Bindu Patel and Anil Jaiswal have been arrested for manufacturing the drugs.

The police during investigation found that accused Tiwari taught Pal and Patel to manufacture the drugs. While Om Gupta, who is wanted by the police in the initial case registered in Thane, used to bring raw material chemicals from Gujarat to prepare synthetic drugs and give them to Jaiswal, Pandey, Pal and Patel in Azamgarh. The main buyer is said to be Savita Jaiswal from Central Mumbai, who arrived in Uttar Pradesh by flight four days ago and bought two and a half kg of drugs at the rate of rupees eight lakh per kg. The payment of R20 lakh was taken in cash by Jaiswal's brother Dilip Jaiswal in Mumbai. Savita had paid R40 lakh in advance for five kilograms of the drugs," said the official. The police are continuing their investigation and hope to unravel the entire racket with the arrest of Savita and Dilip Jaiswal.

Rs 20.18CR
Market value of the raw material seized

Rs 20LAKH
Amount taken by Jaiswal's brother Dilip Jaiswal in Mumbai

Rs 40LAKH
Amount taken in advance for 5 kg of the drugs