NCB seizes MD worth ₹50 crore, arrests chemistry postgrad running illegal lab | Mumbai news
MUMBAI: In a scene right out of the hit American crime series Breaking Bad, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested a post-graduate in chemistry who allegedly operated a clandestine laboratory in an industrial area in Mahad, Raigad, where illegal drugs were manufactured. The Mumbai unit of the intelligence agency has also seized 46.8 kg of a synthetic stimulant widely known as MD, estimated to be worth ₹50 crore in the grey market.
₹50 crore, arrests chemistry postgrad running illegal lab” title=”NCB seizes MD worth ₹50 crore, arrests chemistry postgrad running illegal lab” />The chemistry post-grad, identified as R Shegde, was among two alleged members of a narcotics manufacturing and trafficking network who were arrested by the NCB recently under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. They were found in possession of 46.8 kg of MD, after which the agency busted the laboratory in Mahad.
Shegde was allegedly the mastermind who owned the illegal lab and supervised the manufacturing of the contraband for illegal sale in Mumbai and the rest of Maharashtra, officials said.
How the operation was busted
While surveilling the activities of suspected members of a drug trafficking network, the NCB on March 22 intercepted the two accused in Bhandup and seized 46.8 kg of a white powdery substance, suspected to be MD, from them after obtaining clues on the contraband’s location during their interrogations, officials said. The seized substance turned out to be MD, worth around ₹50 crore in the grey market, and the two suspects were arrested by NCB, officials added.
“The seized drug was found concealed inside a plastic container at the residence of one of the two accused who was nabbed,” said an NCB official, who requested anonymity as they aren’t authorised to speak with the media.
During interrogation, one of the accused allegedly revealed that he was the one who manufactured the seized MD in a clandestine laboratory in Mahad. The NCB then raided the laboratory, seizing a suspicious chemical that was sent for examination. The illegal laboratory was found teeming with specialised paraphernalia, including tools, pipes, tubes, a wall clock, packaged water bottles, exhaust fans and fire extinguishers, officials said.
Two-year covert op
The arrest of Shegde, the alleged mastermind, was the culmination of a two-year-old covert operation by the NCB to catch him “red-handed” with his contraband, said officials familiar with the operation.
The chase began with a tip-off that he was an expert in manufacturing “all types of synthetic narcotics” at makeshift laboratories, officials said. When he was not manufacturing drugs, Shedge provided scientific consultancy services and conducted tests at the same clandestine laboratory dismantled by the NCB, officials added.
“He is a smart operator with an in-depth knowledge of synthetic contrabands and their final precursor chemicals. He would keep ready the final precursors, which just needed a finishing touch by the eventual distributors and sellers,” said an NCB official.
Shegde has been in the crosshairs of drug enforcement agencies in the past, officials said. He was out on bail in connection with an earlier case when the NCB nabbed him on March 22. “It has come forth that the supplier of this drug has two cases registered against him under the provision of the NDPS Act by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI),” an NCB official said. The Enforcement Directorate, too, has initiated a money laundering investigation against him and attached 11 of his assets in the past, officials added.
The NCB is conducting further investigations to nab other accused people linked to the syndicate, including its end beneficiaries and distributors. The operation was led by Indian Revenue Service officer Amit Ghawate, the additional director of the NCB’s Mumbai zonal unit.
Last month, the NCB’s Mumbai unit had busted another major narcotics trafficking syndicate with international links. It seized multiple drugs worth ₹200 crore in the grey market, including 11.54 kg of high-grade cocaine, 4.9 kg of hydroponic weed and 200 packets (weighing around 5.5 kg) of cannabis gummies, from a hideout in Navi Mumbai. The agency also arrested four members of the syndicate.
