Vapi (Gujarat): Mephedrone worth Rs 180 crore has been seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in a raid at a factory in Vapi industrial area of Gujarat’s Valsad district, officials said.
Based on a tip-off that banned drugs were being manufactured at Prime Polymer Industries situated in Vapi’s Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) area, the DRI conducted a raid on Sunday and seized 121.75 kg of mephedrone in liquid form, a Press Information Bureau (PIB) release said.
The firm’s owner, Raju Singh, accountant Keyur Patel and worker Kundan Yadav were arrested under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
The DRI also recovered Rs 18 lakh in cash from Singh’s house in Vapi, said the release.
A magistrate’s court here on Tuesday remanded the three persons in DRI’s custody till November 10.
Two weeks ago, the DRI busted a mephedrone manufacturing unit in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
The operation resulted in the seizure of more than Rs 400 crore-worth narcotic substances and discovery of two labs involved in the manufacturing of mephedrone, the release said.
These back-to-back operations highlight the increasing use of synthetic drugs and misuse of industrial units for their manufacturing, it added.
(Published 08 November 2023, 04:40 IST)