Four people, including a warden of Tihar jail, have been arrested after a synthetic drug manufacturing unit was unearthed by the Narcotics Control Bureau in coordination with Special Cell of Delhi Police in Kasana Industrial Area of Uttar Pradesh.
The agency suspects that the produced drugs were also supplied abroad with the involvement of Mexican drug cartel CJNG (Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generación).
According to NCB, 95 kg of methamphetamine was seized in the raid. Other chemicals used in the production of drugs like Acetone, Sodium Hydroxide, Methylene Chloride, premium grade Ethanol, Toluene, Red phosphorus and imported machines were also seized.
During preliminary investigation, it was found that the factory was run by a Delhi-based businessman and a Tihar jail warden, whom the businessman met while he was lodged there in a NDPS case.
The agency added that a Mumbai-based chemist was roped in by them for manufacturing the drug while the quality of the drug was tested by a member of Mexican cartel who was residing in Delhi.
All four people were arrested by NCB and were produced before a magistrate on October 27, who has remanded a three-day police custody, it added.
Their forward and backward linkages, financial trail and assets generated through illegal drug trafficking are being ascertained, the agency stated.
Giving details about the similar manufacturing units busted by the agency this year, it stated that such labs were unearthed at five locations namely Gandhinagar and Amreli in Gujarat, Jodhpur and Sirohi in Rajasthan, and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
The narcotics control agency 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 labs in industrial areas so that local law enforcement agencies do not suspect them because the transportation of material and machinery, waste generated from the laboratories and toxic fumes coming out of chimneys during chemical processing are common in such areas.