The biggest drug haul in the country the Thane crime branch has seized 18,627 Kg valued over Rs.2,000 crores of drug Ephedrine which is banned in India and is used to make party drug. In the crime, five people are arrested that includes firm’s senior production manager and two person from the shut unit of a pharmaceutical company in Solapur. The two were also involved in the crime of recent seizure of 1,300 kg of raw ephedrine stock in Ahmedabad.
Thane police commissioner Param Bir Singh at a press conference on Saturday claimed this as the biggest drug haul in the country and the trade routes and links related to the case will be investigated.
The controlled manufacturing as a bulk drug for pharmaceutical use is legal in India, but its retail sale as an OTC drug is iillegal.
The drug bust began on April 10, with the arrest of Nigerian national Sipren Chinassa by the Thane Police Crime Branch. Chinassa, was caught smuggling 500 grams of Ephedrine in Kalyan, he told the police that two days later, two men would arrive in Thane’s Vartak Nagar locality in two Maruti Swift cars with the intention of selling Ephedrine there.
“Three to four tonnes of Ephedrine have already left the godown for illegal sale. So the commisioner of Thane police have alerted the police in Gujarat and Goa.
The arrest of Chinassa led to the shut of Avon Life sciences unit in Chincholi MIDC.
On Saturday, Solapur Food & Drug Administration officiers went to the Avon unit but could not inspect the stock as the firm’s godown was sealed by the Thane police but we will revisit next day to find whether the stock is illegal or not.
While the verification of the stock the police came to know the fact that the unit was not licensed to handle that drug neither by Narcotics Control Bureau, the Food & Drugs Administration nor by any other departments.
Kishor Singh Rathod, son of former Congress MLA Bhav Singh Rathod, and four of his aides are said to be absconding by the Ahmedabad crime branch and the Gujarat anti-terrorism squad. They confirmed from the Thane police whether the Ephedrine stock was recently shifted from Solapur to Ahmedabad.
The Gujarat police seized 1,300 Kg of ephedrine from Narendra Singh Kach, which was transported to him from Avon unit by Rathod and Jay Mukhi. Due to a dispute between the employees and the management the unit is said to have shut down for nine months.
The stock of 1,300 kg was found in a company in Ahmedabad which was leftover stock from a total of 20,000kg ephedrine as well as pseudoephedrine at the pharma company. A part of it was going to be processed there,” said a senior police officer.
Then the finished product was to be transported to Goa and further to be dispatched to various dealers of the country as well as international market.
Further, in a trap planned by police two men were arrested on April 22, with the possession of 2 Kg Ephedrine. Suresh Povle (28) and Mayur Sukhdere (25) were arrested red handed on the spot. Police says Povle is Std X dropout and Mayur is a degree holder of Bachelor of Arts.
