The Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch has busted a mephedrone manufacturing unit being operated at an advocate’s farmhouse in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district and arrested two persons, the police said on Wednesday.
The estimated cost of the chemical used in the manufacturing of the banned drug and other equipment is ₹2.35 crore, an officer said.
The farmhouse is owned by advocate Rajkumar Rajhuns who practices in Mumbai and has his own law firm, he said, adding the lawyer was the kingpin of this illicit trade.
The ANC’s Bandra unit had arrested Christiana alias Ayesha, an alleged drug peddler, from Sakinaka on November 13 with 50 gm of MD, he said. On interrogation, she revealed that she had procured the contraband from a man who brings it from Kolhapur, he said. Ms. Christiana also said that there is a mephedrone manufacturing unit in a farmhouse at Chandgad in Kolhapur, he said.
Based on the information, the ANC teams from the Mumbai and the Kolhapur Police raided the farmhouse in Chandgad in Maharashtra, the officer said. During the raid, the ANC team busted the unit and arrested Nikhil Ramchandra Lohar (29), a caretaker of the farmhouse, he said. The team seized 38.7 kg of raw material, he said, adding that the accused could have manufactured MD worth ₹19.35 crore.
