Image showing a police van. (For representation)
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Mysuru: The narcotics network of the ones arrested on Friday, following a raid on a MDMA (3, 4-methylenedioxy-N-methamphetamine) production unit in Mysuru, is spread across India and they used to change the place from one city or town to another in two months, to conceal their identity.
According to the Police in Mysuru, who were a part of the raid, along with Maharashtra Police, the unit in a shed at Unnati Nagar on the Ring Road, near Bannimantapa, was started around 20 days ago. Their network had spread from Gujarat to Kerala.
Police sources stated, “The arrested accused were earlier involved in drug manufacturing in Palakkad, Kerala; and Nashik, Maharashtra. When the police raided those locations, they escaped from there and set up an MDMA unit in Mysuru”.
“Local residents had no information about the accused residing on the 1,000 sq ft area shed. A young man would come to a tea shop next to the shed, buy tea, and return. No one else would come out. The shed was sealed, to prevent air and light,” they said.
Police said, “The unit in Unnati Nagar was only involved in manufacturing and storage. They had planned to convert the liquid drug into powder in two weeks. There was a separate team for sales, and investigation is under way to trace that network”.
The arrested accused are: Firoz Maula Shaikh from Andheri, Mumbai; Shaikh Adil from Surat, Gujarat; and Syed Mehfooz Ali from Bairoch. Syed, who has a diploma in Chemistry, used to come out to buy tea. He would not speak to anyone. He would just ask for tea in Hindi, buy it and return, Police said.
City Police on alert
Following the raid on the MDMA production unit, Mysuru City Police are on a high alert.
On Sunday night, Commissioner Seema Latkar led surprise operations in various parts of the city. Twenty-six persons, who had consumed ganja were found, and one peddler was identified. Simultaneous raids were conducted in several places including Mandi Mohalla, Udayagiri, NR Mohalla, Nazarbad, and KR Mohalla, and 59 godowns were inspected. Lodges, PG hostels, godowns, sheds, and cremation grounds were searched. Thirty-five people with a history of ganja sales were brought in for questioning. The operations continued on Monday night as well.