The operation was conducted by the Mumbai Police, Maharashtra’s ANTF, the Bengaluru City Police, and the NCB. (File Photo)
Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said on Sunday that illegal drugs worth Rs 1.2 crore were seized in Bengaluru in an operation conducted by the Mumbai Police, Maharashtra’s Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF), the Bengaluru City Police, and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), leading to multiple arrests over the illicit manufacture and trafficking of mephedrone and raw materials.
The raids were conducted in Kothanur, Bagalur, and Yerappanahalli on December 24 and 25. One of the arrests was made in Mumbai, another in Belagavi, and two others in Bengaluru. The four people were produced before a Devanahalli court on December 26, the police said.
According to the Bengaluru police, on December 21, one Abdul Khader was arrested in Mumbai by the city police on charges related to the possession of approximately 1.5 kg of mephedrone. Based on his statements, Prashanth Patil of Belagavi was arrested, and he provided information regarding the source of the drug, which led the investigators to Bengaluru city.
The Maharashtra ANTF, in coordination with Bengaluru police and NCB officials, later arrested Suresh Yadhav at Kankanhalli in Yelahanka and Malkhan Ramlal Bishnoi at Kannur in Bagalur.
The joint operation led to the seizure of 4.2 kg of mephedrone at a house in Yerappanahalli, a village in the Avalahalli police station limits, along with 17 kg of raw material (in liquid form), other chemicals, barrels, mixers, and other equipment. One more mixer was recovered at N G Gollahalli in Kothanur. No functional lab or factory was located at any of the raided places. Raw materials stocked at a carpenter shed in Kannur were also seized, said the police.
“We conducted tests on the finished 4.2 kg substance. The general test was positive for amphetamine, but a specific test for meth/MDMA was negative. It could be an impure substance. In all, 4.2 kg of mephedrone worth 1.2 crore and 17 kg of precursor or raw material were seized. The total worth of the raw materials is yet to be verified. The NCB has fixed the price of 1 Kilogram of mephedrone at Rs 30 lakh,” said Seemanth Kumar Singh, Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru.
While Parameshwara said that drugs worth Rs 1.2 crore were seized, the Maharashtra ANTF claimed that they had seized narcotics worth Rs 55 crore.