The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), in coordination with the Delhi police Special Cell, has busted a methamphetamine manufacturing unit, linked to members of the Mexican drug cartel - Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generación, in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Budh Nagar, arrested five persons, and seized about 95 kg of the drugs. Shockingly, the laboratory was allegedly set up by a Delhi-based businessman along with a Tihar Jail warden, and a Mexican cartel member was also part of the syndicate.

The Special Dell of the Delhi Police was also roped in by the federal anti-narcotics agency as “the drug network has footprints across several places in the National Capital Region”. NCB’s deputy director general (DDG) Gyaneshwar Singh said a Mumbai-based chemist and a Tihar jail warden are among the four people arrested and sent to three days police custody.

Singh said that a West Delhi businessman and a Tihar Jail warden were in the factory at the time of the raid.

The lab was located in Kasana Industrial Area of district Gautam Budh Nagar. The two, according to the officer, were instrumental in establishing the illegal factory, procuring chemicals required for manufacturing methamphetamine from various sources and importing the machinery.

During a preliminary enquiry, it was revealed that a Delhi-based businessman, found at the factory during the raid, along with the Tihar Jail warden, was “instrumental” in establishing the illegal factory, procuring chemicals required for the drugs from various sources and importing the machinery, Singh said. As per the statement, chemicals like Acetone, Sodium Hydroxide, Methylene Chloride, Premium grade Ethanol, Toluene, Red phosphorus, Ethyl Acetate etc and imported machinery for manufacturing was also found.

The agency initially received a tip-off about the illegal laboratory being established in the national capital region (NCR) for the production of synthetic drugs like meth for export to other countries as well as consumption in India. Members of the Mexican cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generacion were also said to be involved.

Singh said: “Acting on information that a laboratory had been established in NCR of Delhi for production of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine for export to other countries as well as consumption in India, in which members of Mexican CJNG drug cartel (Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generación), are also involved, NCB conducted search operation in a factory in Kasana Industrial Area, Gautam Budh Nagar district October 25, 2024 and found about 95 kg of Methamphetamine in solid and liquid forms. Chemicals like Acetone, Sodium Hydroxide, Methylene Chloride, Premium grade Ethanol, Toluene, Red phosphorus, Ethyl Acetate etc and imported machinery for manufacturing were also found. The Delhi Police’s special cell also participated in the operation as the drug network had footprints across several places in NCR of Delhi.”

The businessman had previously been arrested by Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in an NDPS case and had been lodged in Tihar Jail where he came in contact with the Jail warden who became his accomplice, the statement revealed. According to the website of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the United States, Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generación is one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organisations in the world. It is responsible for trafficking tons of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl-laced heroin into the United States.

The agency claims to have busted at least five clandestine labs this year so far in Gandhinagar and Amreli in Gujarat, Jodhpur and Sirohi in Rajasthan and Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

In the Bhopal case, a joint operation was undertaken by the NCB and the Gujarat ATS at the Bagroda industrial estate and about 907 kg of mephedrone and 7,000 kg of some other chemicals, along with machinery, were seized.

The NCB believes that considering the low cost of production of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and mephedrone, the drug mafia is “increasingly shifting” to setting up such clandestine labs in industrial areas so that local law enforcement agencies are not alerted by the routine transportation of material and machinery, waste generated from the laboratories and toxic fumes coming out of chimneys during chemical processing.