Gujarat ATS busts illegal mephedrone lab in UP; two held in Ahmedabad-linked case

Ahmedabad, March 18 (IANS) The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has uncovered an illegal mephedrone manufacturing unit in Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh, following an investigation that began with a seizure in Ahmedabad, officials said on Wednesday.

The case originated on March 1, when ATS officers seized 4.6 grams of an illegal narcotic substance from Shafat Ahmed alias Chand Mohammad Farooqi in the Danilimda area of Ahmedabad.

Based on this seizure, Sohail alias Bhura Mirza (25) and Farhan alias Bhura Pathan (38) both residents of Ahmedabad, were also arrested.

The substance was supplied to Shafat by these two individuals.

A case was registered at the ATS police station under Sections 8(c), 22(b) and 29 of the NDPS Act.

During the course of the investigation, ATS adopted both top-down and bottom-up approaches.

Interrogation of the accused revealed that Sohail Mirza had procured around 300 grams of mephedrone from two individuals identified as Pankaj and Kapil.

Acting on this information, ATS teams developed technical and human Intelligence inputs, which indicated that the two were involved in the illegal manufacture of mephedrone in Ambedkarnagar.

An advanced ATS team carried out surveillance on multiple suspected locations for 12 days.

Suspicious activity was detected at a tin shed in Ramnagar Karri village, following which a raid was conducted with the assistance of the Uttar Pradesh Police.

Investigators established that the clandestine operation had been running for approximately six months.

Two accused, Kapildev Sharma (31) and Ramshankar alias Pankaj Parshuram (30) both residents of Beni Gaddopur village in Uttar Pradesh, were apprehended from the site.

Officials said both had school-level education.

A significant quantity of contraband and precursor materials was seized during the raid, including six kilograms of ready mephedrone, 50 kilograms of liquid mephedrone, 88 kilograms of 2-bromo-4-methylpropiophenone, which has recently been notified as a controlled substance, and around 200 kilograms of raw materials and chemicals.

Sunil Joshi, Deputy Inspector General of ATS, said, “The Government of India and the Government of Gujarat have a zero-tolerance policy regarding narcotics. Under this policy, all accused involved in such activities are apprehended by the ATS team. A man from Ahmedabad, Shafat, was found with drugs, and further investigation led us to the larger network.”

"We have the custody of the two prime accused and we are going to examine their modus operandi, supply chain, etc.," he added.

All the accused have been taken into custody and further legal proceedings are underway.

--IANS

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