A major twist has emerged in the 128 kg Mephedrone (MD) factory case after investigators confirmed that most of the drugs cooked in a hidden shed in Karanja (Ghadge) were being sold in Nagpur city. Over the past year, several MD seizures by Nagpur City and Rural Police were unknowingly linked to this same factory, officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) have now found.

 

The DRI has arrested three youths from Karanja (Ghadge): Vaibhav (Bhayyu) Hiralal Agarwal (35), Yash (Alu) Dhanraj Bannagre (20) and Soham Sanjay Dhaygode (21). Sources said the trio wanted to make quick money and set up the MD ‘cooking unit’ inside a tin shed in a lonely patch of shrub-covered land. Agarwal, though only a Computer Science graduate, acted as the main chemist who learnt drug cooking techniques from an unidentied person and from dark web websites. He also sourced the precursor chemicals online using fake details.

 

 

Drug dealers from Nagpur were in touch with the accused through a common contact. The accused sold MD at just Rs 600 per gram, while it was resold in Nagpur and other cities for Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per gram. Nagpur City Police had carried out several raids in the past year, arresting multiple smugglers, but the source of the drug remained hidden until now. On Monday night, under the code name ‘Operation Hinterland Brew’, the DRI carried out its biggest-ever anti-narcotics action in Wardha district. Acting on a tip-off, officers kept watch on an isolated forest area in Karanja (Ghadge) on Nagpur-Amravati road. The suspicious tin shed looked like an ordinary village house, but the moment officers entered, they found a fully functional drug factory.The DRI seized 128 kg of manufactured MD (Rs 192 crore), 245 kg of precursor chemicals, Reactors, large vessels, and complete drug production equipment. Agarwal, the mastermind, financed and operated the entire setup while working as the chemist. The DRI is now probing the wider supply chain, including Nagpur-based dealers, who bought drugs from the Karanja factory. More arrests are likely in the coming days. 

 

 

 

Maharashtra Minister of State for Home Pankaj Bhoyar, on Thursday, said an investigation is underway into the origins of the drug racket uncovered in Wardha district a few days back. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) recently busted a mephedrone manufacturing unit and seized 128 kg of the banned drug valued at Rs 192 crore in Wardha. Three persons, including the alleged mastermind, who also acted as the financier and chemist, were arrested during the operation conducted on Sunday and Monday, an official earlier said. Asked about such a huge quantity of contraband found in Wardha, Bhoyar said the authorities have sealed the unit. “An investigation is underway to trace the roots of this drug racket,” the minister told reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises here. Bhoyar said he held a meeting with the local police and gave them the necessary directions for action in the matter.