Rs 2,000 crore drugs seized in two raids in Gujarat

AHMEDABAD: Mephedrone worth nearly Rs 2,000 crore was seized in two separate raids carried out by Gujarat ATS and Mumbai's anti-narcotic cell (ANC) near Vadodara and Anklekshwar respectively. The drugs have been seized in the two days since August 13.
Acting on a tip-off, the ANC's Worli branch raided a manufacturing unit in Ankleshwar in Gujarat on August 13 and nabbed its owner Giriraj Dixit while seizing 513 kg of mephedrone worth Rs 1,026 crore. They zeroed in on Dixit after interrogating the accused arrested in Rs 1,400 crore MD seizure made in Nalasopara on August 3.
Dixit holds a masters degree in chemistry and allegedly supplied MD to drug traffickers in Mumbai and neighbouring areas.
Meanwhile, the ATS sleuths raided a warehouse in Nandesari GIDC near Vadodara and seized nearly 200 kg MD which is estimated to be worth Rs 1,000 crore. Officials said the consignment was brought from a manufacturing unit in Saykha GIDC near Ankleshwar and stored in this warehouse.
Days after the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of Mumbai police busted a multi-crore drug racket in Panoli GIDC of Ankleshwar, the Bharuch police detained two persons on Tuesday for alleged involvement in the same drugs racket.
Police also seized mephedrone (MD) worth Rs 1,383 crore from the unit in the Panoli GIDC area including 1,300 litre liquid and 82.5 kg in powder form. On August 13, Mumbai ANC raided the mephedrone manufacturing and seized 513 kg drugs worth Rs 1,026 crore and arrested its owner Giriraj Dixit.
According to police, Dixit's name cropped up during the interrogation of six men arrested during a raid at a manufacturing unit at Nalasopara in Palghar district near Mumbai on August 3. The ANC had seized more than 700kg MD, a banned synthetic drug, worth Rs 1,400 crore during the raid at the Nalasopara unit.
The police said that the mephedrone manufactured in Dixit's factory was meant to be supplied to drug peddlers in Mumbai and neighbouring areas. Dixit and a co-accused perfected the formula for producing mephedrone through experiments.
Bharuch police on Tuesday said, "After the Mumbai police's operation we conducted the search and recovered the material. Two persons have been detained and they will be arrested after Covid-19 test."
Those detained were identified as Chintan Pansuriya (33) and Jayant Tiwari (29). Police investigation revealed that Pansuriya was involved in running the unit while Tiwari was one of the workers of the unit.
Bharuch police are collecting details about Pansuriya's role in the manufacturing of the banned drug. Police are yet not clear if Dixit was the mastermind of the manufacturing racket or was it Pansuriya. "Since how long the unit was operating at this place is not clear. We are trying to gather the details from the accused," said a police officer.
Mumbai police had earlier said that the seizure from the Panoli unit was one of the biggest drug seizures by them in recent times.