Now, inflation hits druggies!

Prem Prakash Singh

The biggest ever seizure of the synthetic drug Mephedrone (MD) and the arrest of India's biggest supplier, Prem Singh, earlier in August by the Anti-Narcotics Cell of the Mumbai Crime Branch have hit the MD supply market.

The synthetic drug is barely available in Mumbai and nearby cities. Officials have said recent small cases busted by them have shown that 1 gm of MD, which was sold for just Rs 600-Rs 700, is now being sold at five times the price.

The ANC had busted a ring with the seizure of 2,400 kg mephedrone worth Rs 4,800 crore and the arrest of 8 accused. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) also seized approximately 60 kg mephedrone worth Rs 120 crore from Gujarat and Mumbai.

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ANC officers with the seized drug in Gujarat. File pic

"Prem Prakash Singh was the biggest manufacturer and supplier of mephedrone and he was going about it so quietly that his name never appeared in any of our investigations. But one small case that we cracked in March this year led us to him," said DCP Datta Nalawade, ANC.

"Recently we made a case of 50 gm and arrested a peddler. We found that mephedrone, which is hardly available in the city now, is being sold at Rs 3,000-Rs 3,500 per gm. Before this racket was busted by us, the market value was just Rs 600-Rs 700," Nalawade added.

"There is no doubt that the supply has been hit due to this huge seizure, and we are now investigating the larger aspect of the case, as it has come to our attention that the accused had sent various parcels abroad. We are verifying if the synthetic drug manufactured by the mastermind has gone abroad as well," said an NCB officer.

The mastermind of the syndicate was 55-year-old Singh, a postgraduate in chemistry with an MBA in finance. The officials have found that Singh has been into manufacturing MD since 2019 and has been researching it since 2017.

The team from the ANC's Worli unit that proved the matter found that he had manufactured around 4,500 kg mephedrone worth Rs 9,000 crore since 2019 until he was caught in August this year.

The ANC has recently seized property of Singh worth Rs 20 crore in Mumbai and nearby areas, which includes shops and flats. Officials believe that the properties seized by them are just the tip of the iceberg, as they suspect properties worth more than R100 crore were purchased by the accused as benami properties.