The Ahmedabad city crime branch and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) caught a Surat man, seizing 23,000 litres of chemicals from two premises in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.
The chemicals were to be used to make ketamine, mephedrone and cocaine.
According to DRI, teams from the two agencies also seized 23kg of cocaine, around 16.7kg of mephdrone and 4.3kg of ketamine ready for the market. The total value of the narcotics and psychotropic substances is estimated at Rs 500 crore.
The accused, Jitesh Hinhoria, who is a chemical engineer, had been manufacturing ketamine and mephedrone and processing cocaine for a month, city crime branch sources said.
After a tip-off, teams from crime branch and DRI camped in Aurangabad and monitored his illicit business, following which they raided the premises. Hinhoria and his worker were nabbed from one of the two factories. The chemical haul was subsequently seized and the factories sealed.
“About a year and a half ago, Hinhoria worked for a pharmaceutical firm. He quit the job to set up a factory where he started manufacturing narcotics and psychotropic substance illegally,” a crime branch officer said. He would source the raw material from Mumbai and from a firm in Kalol’s Chhatral GIDC.
After making and processing narcotics and psychotropic substances, he used to sell the cocaine mainly in Mumbai and other psychotropic drugs in Ratlam, Indore, Delhi, Chennai and Surat.
Chennai was the biggest market for ketamine for Hinhoria, while Surat had many clients for mephedrone, the official said.
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