5 months ago
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The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has dismantled a mobile mephedrone manufacturing portion successful Maharashtra’s Satara district, seized drugs worthy ₹55 crore and arrested 5 persons, officials said.
Acting connected inputs, DRI officials conducted ‘Operation Sahyadri Checkmate’ connected Friday (January 23, 2026) successful a distant colony successful the Karad tehsil, an authoritative said connected Sunday (January 25, 2026).
Teams from the country’s premier anti-smuggling bureau carried retired a raid and unearthed a afloat operational laboratory, equipped for mephedrone production, camouflaged arsenic a poultry farm. The portion was often shifting locations to evade detection, officials said.
“The seizure included 11.848 kg of the cause successful liquid form, 9.326kg successful semi-liquid form, and 738 grams successful crystalline form, on with 71.5kg of earthy worldly susceptible of yielding different 15kg of mepehdrone, collectively worthy astir ₹55 crore,” the authoritative said.
Mephedrone is simply a synthetic stimulant and is commonly described arsenic a enactment drug. It carries superior wellness risks. Three persons, including the shaper oregon “cook”, the “financer-consigner”, and the poultry workplace owner, were apprehended astatine the spot, an authoritative said, adding that the archetypal batch of the contraband had been hidden astatine the workplace owner’s residence.
“In a follow-up operation, DRI officials nabbed 2 much persons, en way to cod the last product, adjacent an aged octroi toll naka successful a densely forested area,” helium said.
“Of the 5 accused, 4 had anterior arrests nether the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act oregon prosecution nether MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act),” the authoritative said.
This is the 2nd raid connected a cause manufacturing portion successful Satara territory successful the past 2 months. Last month, the Mumbai Crime Branch conducted a raid astatine Jawali and busted a clandestine cause manufacturing unit.
