NCR drug bust: Tihar jail warden, Mexican among 4 held

An international drug network was busted with the arrest of four people involving a Mexican, a Mumbai chemist and a Tihar jail warden, and recovery of 95 kg of Methamphetamine from a factory in Gautam Buddha Nagar district in Uttar Pradesh, an official said on Tuesday.

The racket was busted in a joint operation conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Special Cell of Delhi Police.

Gyaneshwar Singh, DDG (Operations), NCB, said, "The forward and backward linkages, financial trail and assets generated by the accused through illegal drug trafficking were being ascertained."

The factory in Kasana Industrial Area of Uttar Pradesh's district Gautam Buddha Nagar was raided on October 25 during which the businessman, the mastermind of the gang, and the jail warden were present at the synthetic drugs unit.

The unit was producing methamphetamine for export as well as consumption in India. The operations also involved members of the Mexican CJNG drug cartel (Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generacion) a Mumbai chemist and a businessman, said an investigator.

Singh said in the follow-up action after the raid on the factory, another member of the syndicate and a close associate of the Delhi-based businessman was apprehended from Rajouri Garden area of west Delhi.

While the businessman and the jail warden were instrumental in establishing the illegal factory, procuring chemicals required for manufacturing methamphetamine and importing the machinery, the chemist from Mumbai was manufacturing the drug and the Delhi-based member of the Mexican cartel was responsible for testing the final product, he said.

He said the businessman picked up from the illegal drug factory had previously been arrested by the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), in a Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, case and had been lodged in Tihar jail where he came in contact with the jail warden who became his accomplice.

All the four accused arrested in the case were presented in a magistrate court on Sunday and were sent to a three-day police remand, the NCB said.

Items recovered during the raid included chemicals like Acetone, Sodium Hydroxide, Methylene Chloride, Premium grade Ethanol, Toluene, Red phosphorous, Ethyl Acetate and imported machinery, it said.

This year the NCB has busted such labs at five locations -- Gandhinagar and Amreli in Gujarat, Jodhpur and Sirohi in Rajasthan, and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

Earlier this month, a clandestine lab was busted in a joint operation with Gujarat ATS in Bagroda Industrial Estate of Bhopal, in which about 907 kgs of Mephedrone in solid and liquid forms and about 7,000 kgs of various chemicals were seized.