Bhopal drug haul: Police seize raw material used for making MD from shop; one detained

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh police on Tuesday seized chemicals and raw materials from a shop in Bhopal, unearthing a potential link with a synthetic drug factory busted recently in another part of the city, an official said.

The seized material can potentially produce MD drugs with an estimated value of Rs 250 crore to Rs 350 crore, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sanjay Agrawal.

The Gujarat ATS and the NCB on October 5 busted the synthetic drug manufacturing factory located in Bagroda locality and seized 907.09 kg mephedrone with an estimated value of Rs 1,814 crore.

"Following the action of NCB (Delhi unit) against the synthetic drug factory in Bhopal, MP Police received the information about the presence of suspicious objects at the same place on Monday night and sealed the spot on Monday night," the DCP said.

He said police received the information that one Amit Chaturvedi, arrested in the NCB case, had rented a shop in Ganesh Market area opposite a warehouse. He used to shift some goods by car to the Bagroda factory late at night.

"On Tuesday morning, police broke open the shop and found various chemicals stored in drums and sacks," Agrawal said, adding that the shop was rented to Chaturvedi by one Vishnu Patidar last July.

The chemical found in the shop is used for manufacturing MD drugs, he said.

"The raw material found at this shop costs around Rs 60 lakh in the local market which can produce the synthetic drug with an estimated value of Rs 250 crore to Rs 350 crore," the police officer added.

These chemicals were also recovered by the NCB, he said, adding that a 30-litre unidentified substance was also found in the shop on Tuesday.

The shop owner Vishnu Patidar, a resident of Rapadia area in Bhopal, has been booked under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita section 223 (failing to comply with a lawful order issued by a public servant) for not informing the police about renting or leasing out land and detained for interrogation.

The factory busted in Bagroda on Saturday could manufacture 25 kg of MD drug per day, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad had said in a statement.

The illegal unit was located about 15 km from Katara police station and 30 km from the MP police headquarters.

Chaturvedi, Sanyal Baner and Harish Aanjana were arrested in connection with the drug haul.