In another raid conducted in connection with the massive drug bust in Bhopal, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized raw materials worth ₹60 lakh from a retail shop from the city’s Ganesh Market area.

Vishnu Patidar, an accomplice of the prime accused duo, was also nabbed in the NCB raid conducted, in collaboration with Bhopal police.

NCB Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 2) Sanjay Kumar Agarwal said, “This raw material was used by the perpetrators to manufacture Mephedrone (MD) drugs worth ₹350 crore. Vishnu Patidar had also previously supplied the manufacturers with raw materials. We have also developed links of this syndicate with other networks operational nationwide.”

Notably, the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and the NCB, Delhi, jointly carried out an operation to seize MD drugs valued at ₹1,814 crore from a factory in Bhopal, in a raid conducted on October 5.

A statement released by Gujarat Police mentions that Gujarat ATS DySP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) S L Chaudhary received information regarding a group running an MD drug manufacturing unit in Bhopal.

Subsequently, the ATS identified Amit Chaturvedi (57), a Bhopal resident, and Sanyal Bane (40), a Nashik resident, behind this drug syndicate.

The duo ran technical production of these drugs under the guise of a manufacturing unit in Bagroda Industrial Estate in Bhopal.

In a raid conducted at the site, the teams of Gujarat ATS and NCB seized a total of 907.09 kg of MD (both in solid and liquid form). The estimated value of this seizure in the international market is said to be ₹1,814.18 crore.

Alongside, around 5,000 kg of raw material and equipment used for the production of MD, including grinders, motors, glass flasks, heaters, and other apparatus, were also confiscated.