Representative image of a police officer.
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Pune: The role of a British national is being probed in connection with the recent seizure of 1,700 kilograms of mephedrone worth around Rs 3000-3500 crore in the illicit market, a police official said here on Thursday.
The mephedrone was seized after operations in several cities, including New Delhi, Pune and Sangli, leading to arrests of eight persons.
These include Bhimaji Sabale, owner of a unit in Kurkumbh MIDC in Pune, and Yuvraj Bhujbal, a chemical engineer. Both were arrested for their alleged role in production and distribution of the drug, police officials had said.
"The role of a person from Bihar, who is a British national, has emerged in the case. We have learnt he has fled to some other country. Efforts are on to nab him," Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said.
Kumar said the British national was arrested in Pune in 2016 in a narcotics case involving seizure of a consignment by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and was lodged in Yerwada jail.
He was using some of the people he met in jail as drug couriers, the official added.
On Tuesday, Kumar said some consignments of the contraband was shipped to London concealed in ready-to-eat food, for which a Delhi-based courier company was roped in.
Fifteen to twenty teams have been formed the destroy the racket, adding that a special counsel will be appointed to ensure those arrested are convicted.