Mumbai Police’s anti-narcotics cell seizes 710 kg of ‘meow-meow’ from suburbs

Mephedrone, also known as MD or meow-meow, is a stimulant drug, which means it accelerates the speed of the messages travelling between the mind and the body

In one of the biggest drug hauls of recent times, the Anti-Narcotics Cell of Mumbai Police has seized 710 kg of designer drug mephedrone, also called MD or meow meow, valued at Rs 1,408 crore from the Nalasopara suburb of Mumbai.

The police have arrested five persons, including the manufacturer, in a carefully planned operation that lasted nearly six months. The police said the manufacturer of the synthetic stimulant drug is a 52-year-old postgraduate in organic chemistry who experimented extensively to develop the formula. The man used social media platforms, calling apps for drug peddling and supply, which the police described as "high quality".

Mephedrone is a stimulant drug that escalates the speed of the messages travelling between the mind and body. The suspect procured chemicals from various sources and relied on books and open source material on the internet to experiment till he formulated MD in his house. The suspect kept a low profile and maintained minimum contact with the outside world, police sources said. The incident has similarities with the 2008 American crime drama 'Breaking Bad', where an underpaid and ailing high school chemistry teacher turns to a life of crime, producing and distributing crystal meth.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Datta Nalawade, who heads the ANC, said it arrested five persons, four from Mumbai, including a woman, and the manufacturer from Nalasopara in Vasai tehsil in Palghar district. After experimenting with various chemicals, the 52-year-old found the formula for producing mephedrone, which he made in his own set-up, Nalawade said.

"Wholesalers in the drug trade used to contact him for mephedrone, and he was not selling the banned substance less than 25 kg in quantity," the DCP said. He said the police busted three layers with the arrest of a peddler, a supplier, a distributor, and the contraband manufacturer. Further investigations were on as more people could be involved in the racket, Nalawade said.

According to the ANC, on March 29, its Worli unit initially arrested a peddler from Shivajinagar in Mumbai's Govandi, seizing 250 grams of MD from him. His interrogation led to another person from whom it seized 760 gms of MD. Based on sustained interrogation of the duo, on July 27, the ANC arrested the third suspect, a woman, from the Antop Hill area. Her interrogation led to two more suspects - a conduit on August 2 and the manufacturer on August 3. An official said that the ANC raided the manufacturing unit in Nalasopara (west) on Wednesday and recovered the contraband, which was to be supplied to drug peddlers in Mumbai and its neighbouring areas.

The ANC has booked the suspects under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).