Opium and MD drugs worth crores seized in Gujarat
Updated: Nov 7th, 2023
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| Drug Nexus busted (img: File) |
Events similar to some Hollywood flicks are turning into a daily affair for Gujarat. Two such isolated incidents in the state saw drugs and opium packages worth crores being seized by the local authorities. The perpetrators have been booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, while interstate chains were also dismantled.
₹180 cr drug racket busted in Vapi
The first case emerged from Vapi, where the state’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) teams seized a huge consignment of 121 kgs of liquid MD drugs worth ₹180 cr from ‘Prime Polymers’ on Nov 5.
Authorities also seized approx ₹18 lakh in cash from the factory owner’s house.
A case has been filed against the factory owner and three others under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act.
Operation by DRI teams across the state
The DRI teams of Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vapi branches gained intel on MD drugs being produced in Vapi. This led the authorities to land upon the huge stock of mephedrone liquid, worth approx ₹180 cr in international markets.
A similar racket of MD drugs, cocaine, and methenamine worth ₹500 cr was busted by DRI, Pune, which acted upon a tip-off received from the Ahmedabad crime branch in Oct this year. In this case, the drug consignment was seized from two locations in the Aurangabad GIDC: a pharma company owned by Jitesh Patel and another company.
Opium racket in Naroda GIDC
In another case in Ahmedabad, two youths were held with liquid opium worth ₹5.5 lakh from Naroda GIDC by the Ahmedabad crime branch, the police said on Nov 6. A case has been filed under the NDPS act.
Eyeing greater profit margins, the accused allegedly imported the opium from Rajasthan and sold it in the surroundings of Naroda GIDC.
PI JH Sindhav, Special Operations Group (SOG), Ahmedabad, said that a person named Jayrajsingh Rathod, along with his accomplice Dolatsingh Rathod, supplied illegal liquid opium.
The duo was nabbed following a raid conducted at their location where the opium stock was seized. Further interrogation revealed that they carried out this illicit trade to end Dolatsingh’s financial condition.
Another person named Jitendrasingh Sisodiya from Udaipur was also a part of the team who was their supplier.
