Mumbai: Sanyal Bane, the alleged mastermind who ran the mephedrone lab that was busted in Dahanu on Friday, had earlier tried to produce the narcotic in his tribal settlement nearby. However, the results weren’t as desired, and a police raid four months ago convinced him to shift operations, police said on Sunday.
The illegal unit, which had been in operation for at least the last four months, was raided on Friday night. In all, 900 grams of processed mephedrone and enough raw material to produce close to 60 kg of the drug, were seized by the police team led by ASI Daya Nayak. Bane and two others were arrested in the raid.
Bane, a tribal from Palghar district and a science graduate, had faced several problems while trying to produce mephedrone in his wadi, or settlement, including an offensive smell given off during the production process. “The smell attracted attention and the product wasn’t up to the mark. Four months ago, when Palghar police raided the settlement, Bane managed to evade arrest. He tied up with the other accused and set up a professional lab in Dahanu,” an officer with Amboli police station said.
Police said co-accused Sultan Rauf has a history of drug peddling. “After joining forces with Bane, Rauf got in touch with his contacts in the drug peddling circuit and offered to supply high quality mephedrone. Once a batch was ready, Rauf would accept orders and take care of the transport and payment. We are interrogating the accused to find out more,” the officer added.
The lab was raided after Nadeem Sheikh (27) was arrested in Andheri with one kg of mephedrone. During interrogation, he allegedly told the police he had bought the drugs from Rauf.