Meth lab busted near Delhi; Tihar Jail warden, Mexican national among 5 arrested

New Delhi: A lab manufacturing synthetic drugs with links to a Mexican drug cartel -- Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) -- was unearthed in the suburbs of Delhi and five persons, including a Tihar Jail warden and two businessmen, were arrested, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said on Tuesday.

Around 95 kg of methamphetamine, a synthetic drug, was seized from the premises of the lab located in a factory in Kasana Industrial Area of Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh both in solid and liquid forms on October 25.

Chemicals like acetone, sodium hydroxide, methylene chloride, premium-grade ethanol, toluene, red phosphorus, ethyl acetate and imported machinery for manufacturing synthetic drugs were also seized from the clandestine lab in the operation, which was assisted by Delhi Police's Special Cell.

A preliminary enquiry has shown that a Delhi-based businessman, along with the Tihar Jail warden, was "instrumental" in establishing the illegal factory, procuring chemicals required for manufacturing Methamphetamine from various sources and importing the machinery, NCB Deputy Director General (Operations) Gyaneshwar Singh said.

The businessman was earlier arrested in a drug trafficking case by the Department of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and was lodged in Tihar jail where he came in contact with the warden.

A Mumbai-based chemist was roped in by these people to manufacture the drug while its quality was tested by a Mexican drug cartel member residing in the national capital, Singh said.

Apart from these four persons, he said, an "important member" of the syndicate and "close associate" of the Delhi-based businessman was apprehended in follow-up action from West Delhi's Rajouri Garden.

"Their forward and forward and backward linkages, financial trail and assets generated by the accused through illegal drug trafficking are being ascertained," Singh said.

This year, NCB said, the agency has unearthed clandestine labs in Gandhinagar and Amreli in Gujarat, Jodhpur and Sirohi in Rajasthan, and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.

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

"It is believed that considering the low cost of production of synthetic drugs like methamphetamine and Mephedrone, the drug mafia is increasingly shifting to setting up such clandestine labs in industrial areas so that local law enforcement agencies do not get unduly alerted because of transportation of material and machinery, waste generated from the laboratories and toxic fumes coming out of chimneys during chemical processing," it said.