DRI busts two clandestine Mephedrone manufacturing labs in Hyderabad, arrests 7

New Delhi, December 26

The Directorate of Intelligence Revenue (DRI) on Monday said it has busted two clandestine Mephedrone manufacturing labs at Hyderabad and neutralised the entire network by arresting seven persons, including the mastermind and financer, and seizing around 25 kg of the illicit drug worth around Rs 50 crore in the grey market.  

The agency in an official statement said the raiding team also seized in-process materials, sale proceeds of Rs 18.90 lakh, key raw materials, machinery and vehicles used for trafficking.

“Acting on the basis of specific intelligence, the DRI started a swift and well-coordinated operation on December 21, 2022, and busted the two clandestine labs. Seven persons carrying out the manufacturing in these two locations were arrested and remanded in judicial custody,” the statement read.

In an immediate follow-up action, the mastermind and main financier of this activity was nabbed at Gorakhpur, as he was attempting to flee to Nepal with cash of Rs 60 lakh, it added.

The DIR said that some of the arrested persons were also accused in a 2016 case for clandestine manufacture of 236 kg Ephedrine at Indore; a July 2022 DRI case for clandestine manufacturing of 667 kg Mephedrone at Yamuna Nagar; a case of escape from prison in Indore; a murder case in Hyderabad and robberies in Vadodara.

Neutralising of the clandestine labs and apprehending of the entire drug syndicate has dealt a blow to their plans for committing nefarious activities in the wake of new-year and thereafter, the agency said.

This is a second such factory bust carried out by DRI in the current financial year, following a similar case at Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, in July-August 2022.

In the current financial year alone (till November, 2022), officers of DRI have seized about 990 kg of Heroin, 88 kg of Cocaine, 10,000 Methamphetamine tablets, 2,400 liters of Phensedyl cough syrup and various other harmful NDPS substances, it said.