Meow meow lab busted, Rs 51 crore drug seized in Panvel

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad on Tuesday arrested five persons and busted a factory in Panvel which was being used as a lab to manufacture banned narcotic mephedrone, also known as MD or meow meow. The team has seized 129kg MD and Rs 1 crore cash. The value of the seized narcotic substance is more than Rs 51 crore , said officers.

A source said that the accused were manufacturing the drug at a Panvel lab and distributing it in Thane, Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. The arrested people have been identified as Abdur Razzaque Shaikh (47), Irfan Shaikh (43), Suleman Shaikh (28), Naresh Maskar (44) and Jitendra Pramath.

Deputy commissioner of police Vikram Deshmane said that they had received a tipoff about some people transporting narcotic substance. The accused were intercepted on the Eastern Express Highway with 9kg MD. “During interrogation of the accused, we learnt about a factory where mephedrone was being manufactured. We raided the lab and found 120kg drug there. We also seized Rs 1.04 crore from the factory. The accused have told us that the money found at the factory was earned by selling the drug,” said Deshmane.

“There is bigger network of manufacturers and suppliers at work. We are probing on the case and hope to get to the bottom of it,” he added.

The operation was led by ACP Shripad Kale, officers Sandeep Vishwasrao, Shailesh Salvi, Sandesh More and Vikas More.

An officer said: “The accused would manufacture the drug in powder form and it would be transported to various areas for selling. The lab has sophisticated manufacturing equipment. We are looking into the backgrounds of the accused to ascertain if anyone has knowledge of the pharmaceutical sector and chemicals.”