Ahmedabad: Gujarat Police has seized 1,364 kg of Ephedrine, a raw material used to prepare party drug methamphetamine, from a factory in the city outskirts, with an international market value of Rs 270 crore.
In a joint operation, the city crime branch and state Anti-Terrorist Squad teams on Thursday night conducted raids at Riya Industries on Vehlala-Zak road here and seized 1364 kg of Ephedrine and arrested its owner Narendra Kachha.
Police has also named the son of a former Congress MLA Bhavsinh Rathod, Kishorsinh as kingpin of the drug racket, who is yet to be arrested.
“Kishorsinh Rathod and a Mumbai-based Jay Mukhi had procured this drug from Sholapur in Maharashtra from another person named Punit. They gave this drug to Kachha to convert it into crystal math (methamphetamine), a party drug,” Joint Commissioner of Police heading the crime branch, J.K. Bhatt said here.
“Kachha, who has a BSC degree is associated with pharmaceutical business for the last 20 years. “Earlier he used to work in different companies and has a wide experience on how to make the party drug from ephedrine,” he said. Ephedrine is a drug used to prevent low blood pressure and also used for asthma, narcolepsy and obesity. It is a Schedule A controlled substance.
