In a significant drug bust, Gujarat’s anti-terrorist squad (ATS) officials detained six people in connection with the seizure of 225kg of mephedrone worth Rs 1,125crore during a Tuesday raid at a plant that was still under construction outside of Vadodara.
Sunil Joshi, superintendent of police, Gujarat ATS, said, “Acting on a specific tip-off, a team of the Gujarat ATS raided a factory-cum-warehouse on Tuesday morning. We have seized 225 kilogrammes of mephedrone, worth 1,125 crore, in the international market.”
Joshi claims that the narcotics were produced at a chemical factory in Saykha GIDC in the Bharuch district before being processed at the facility that is now under construction in Savli taluka of the Vadodara district, where the raid was carried out.
According to the SP, Mahesh Vaishnav, who lives in Surat, and Piyush Patel, who lives in Vadodara, are the owners of the factory there.
The police declared that Rakesh Makani, Vijay Vasoya, and Dilip Vaghasia are the owners of the plant.
All five plant owners have been jailed, including one, Dinesh Dhruv, who organised talks between Vaishnaw and Makani, said Joshi.
The officer claims that Vaishnaw approached the Saykhya plant’s proprietors early this year with the idea of producing mephedrone at the factory.
Joshi said, “Vaishnav brought liquid mephedrone from Bharuch to his facility in Savli… He confessed to supplying about 15kg of mephedrone to one Dinesh Dhruv and two others from Mumbai and a similar quantity to a person from Rajasthan. The remaining quantity has been seized by the ATS.”