MUMBAI: The Directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) has busted a mobile mephedrone manufacturing unit in Maharashtra’s Satara district, seizing drugs worth Rs 55 crore and arresting five people, officials said. Based on specific inputs, DRI officers launched ‘Operation Sahyadri Checkmate’ on Friday, raiding a remote village in Karad tehsil, an official said on Sunday. Teams from the country’s premier anti-smuggling agency uncovered a fully functional mephedrone lab disguised as a poultry farm. Officials said the unit was being frequently relocated to avoid detection. The seizure comprised 11.848 kg of the drug in liquid form, 9.326 kg in semi-liquid form and 738 grams in crystalline form, besides 71.5 kg of raw material capable of producing another 15 kg of mephedrone. The total value of the haul is estimated at Rs 55 crore, the official said. Mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant commonly referred to as a party drug, poses serious health risks. Three persons including the manufacturer or “cook”, the “financer-consigner”, and the poultry farm owner — were arrested at the spot, the official said, adding that the first batch of the contraband had been concealed at the farm owner’s residence. In a subsequent operation, DRI teams apprehended two more accused near an old octroi toll naka in a densely forested area while they were en route to collect the final product, he said. Officials said four of the five arrested had previous cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act or had faced prosecution under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). This is the second drug manufacturing unit busted in Satara district in the past two months. Last month, the Mumbai Crime Branch raided Jawali and exposed a clandestine drug manufacturing facility.
