A Nigerian national has been arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) for manufacturing and peddling the synthetic drug Methylsulfonylmethane (MDMA) crystal in his rented house in Tarabanahalli village on Hesaraghatta Road, North Bengaluru.
A police team headed by Soladevanahalli police inspector R Virupakshaswamy raided the house of Richard Mbudu Cyrill on Monday and seized 930 grams of MDMA, 580 grams of sodium hydroxide crystal, five litres of acid, an altered 10-litre pressure cooker, an iron pipe, a digital weighing machine, two mobile phones and a scooter. In all, police seized items worth Rs 50 lakh.
A case has been registered against them under NDMA Act.
Police said that having learnt how to make MDMA on the internet, Cyrill and his elder brother made MDMA crystal using MDMA, sodium hydroxide and acid, and peddled it to traders and customers.
They procured a 10-litre pressure cooker, altered it by fixing an iron pipe to make the drug. The brothers brought raw materials like MDMA, sodium hydroxide and acid from Mumbai, and boiled them in the cooker. They collected the evaporated substance in a vessel and cooled it. Once it became crystals, they packed them in small sachets and sold them in various cities across the country.
The brothers had arrived in Delhi in 2019 on a business visa. They lived in a rented house in Ramamurthy Nagar, East Bengaluru, for six months before moving to Tarabanahalli two months ago.