The Thane police on Saturday claimed to have busted a major drug manufacturing and peddling racket, with the seizure of a staggering 18.50 tonnes of Ephedrine worth Rs2,000 crore in the international market and arrest of five persons in connection with the major haul.
Addressing a Press conference at Thane, Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh said that arrested persons comprised a Nigerian and four others, including the production manager of a unit based at Solapur where the drug had been manufactured.
Singh identified four persons other than a Nigerian arrested in connection with the drug haul as Sagar Suresh Powale (28) and Mayur Suresh Sukhdare (25), both residents of a respectable locality at Thane, Dhaneshwar Rajaram Swamy (28) and Rajendra Jagdambaprasad Dimri (48).
It was the arrest on April 10 of the Nigerian, from whom the police seized half a kilogram of the drug, that led to other arrests and the raid on a factory at Solapur in western Maharashtra.
While the police seized 3 kg of drug from Powale and Sukhadre, they recovered 5 kg of the Ephedrine power from peddlar Swamy. The investigators 7.60 kg of drug from the production manager of the factoruy Rajendra Jagdambaprasad Dimri. A major chunk of the 18.50 tonnes drugs recovered was seized from Solapur factory which they traced with the help of arrested earlier.
The investigators have, meanwhile, sealed the production unit Evon life Sciences, in MIDC at Chincholi locality in Solapur town. They are looking for some more personnel involved in the manufacture and selling of drugs.
Ephedrine is a stimulant, which is taken orally when used as a drug. It acts on the central nervous system and increases the blood pressure and pulse rates, and also dilates the bronchioles in the lungs, making it easier to breathe. It also causes loss of appetite, mild euphoria and hallucinations. It is a banned drug under the NDPS Act.
The drug is used in sniffing, IV and Icecream. It was also being sometime exported to Poland and European countries Singh said.
A kilogram of Ephedrine drug costs as much as Rs40 lakh in the international market. “ “This is the biggest-ever drug haul that we have made. We estimate the cost of seized to be around Rs2,000 crore in the international market,” the Thane CP said.