Mumbai Crime: MD worth Rs 2,435 crore seized by Crime Branch in drug probe since March

A Fivemonth investigation by the Mumbai Crime Branchs AntiNarcotic Cell ANC which started with the seizure of 250 grams of mephedrone in March has resulted in a haul of 1218 kg of the banned synthetic drug which is worth Rs 2435 crore This is the biggest drug bust in the history of the ANC The ANC has so far arrested seven including two organic chemistry postgraduates in connection with the probeANC team with the accused Faizan KhanAccording to the ANC the investigation began following the arrest of Shamshullah Khan 38 in Shivaji Nagar Govandi The accused had 250 grams of MD worth Rs3750 lakh in his possession The police later managed to trace three other accused to Shivaji Nagar Palghar and Ambernath mdash Ayub Shaikh 35 Reshma Chandan 49 and Riyaz Memon 43Also read Mumbai police busts mephedrone unit in Gujarat drugs worth Rs 1026 cr seizedAccording to Datta Nalawade DCP ANC after the four were arrested the police nabbed the mastermind of the biggest MD syndicate Premprakash Singh a postgraduate in organic chemistry on August 3 and recovered 709 kg of MD worth Rs1400 crore from his godown in Nalasoparardquo During the course of the investigation it was discovered that Singh use to sell mephedrone to various suppliers and in the past two years he had sold more than 15 tonnes of MD worth Rs3000 crorePremprakash SinghThis is just an estimate as per details we have learnt so far from himrdquo Nalwade added Given the enormous amount of synthetic drugs Singh has sold the ANC has begun obtaining the details of properties he had purchased and found that he has around 15 flats in the Mumbai suburbs and adjacent cities Officials have also discovered that the accused has Rs 4 to Rs 5 crore in savings in six separate accountsThese are initial details we have collected and some of his properties have been attached We suspect that he may also have some Benami propertiesrdquo an ANC officer said Looking at the gravity of the case the joint commissioner crime Suhas Varke formed a special team comprising eight officers and 15 staff members of different units of the ANC to investigate the drug haul The team is being headed by Nalwade and also comprises PI Sandeep Kale and API Amol Kale of the Worli unitOn August 9 the ANC made its sixth arrest in Nalasopara recovering 450 grams of MD worth Rs10 lakh from one Kiran Kumar who was allegedly running a drugmanufacturing unit While interrogating Singh the police came to learn of the seventh accused Giriraj Dikshit the other postgraduate in organic chemistry who ran a chemical factory in Ankleshwar in Gujarat He was arrested on August 13According to the ANC Singh and Dikshit had known each for years and the former had allegedly approached the latter to utilise his facility to produce more mephedrone During raids on the Gujarat company we recovered 513 kg of mephedrone which is worth Rs1024 crore The total amount of drugs seized so far is 1218 kg which is the biggest in the history of the Mumbai ANC since 1989 when the cell was formedrdquo Nalawade statedOfficials believe more people had been running the manufacturing unit This is one of the biggest MD networks unearthed by the ANC and the seizure is the biggest in Indiardquo the officer added250The amount of mephedrone seized from the first accused in grams