The 'Meow-Meow' With A Dangerous Bite No Stranger To Medchal-Malkajgiri Drug Units
According to data from the Narcotics Control Bureau of India, last year saw 107.04 kg of mephedrone seized in Telangana: Reports
HYDERABAD: Some of the so-called ‘life-sciences’ sector companies in Telangana appear to have hit the easy way to make money by manufacturing illicit drugs over the past few years. If the seizures from just three incidents since 2022 are anything to go by, they have been significantly contributing to what the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in its ‘Smuggling in India 2024’ report calls, the ‘Meow Meow Menace’, referring to one of the marker names of mephedrone, and the rise of its use in India.
In Telangana, there have been at least three such huge drug busts since 2022 – including the one at Vagdevi InnoScience Pvt. Ltd., on Saturday — involving companies registered as either pharmaceutical manufacturing units, or listed as companies pursuing life-science business in the state.
Incidentally, the Medchal-Malkajgiri district where Vagdevi InnoScience is located, is no stranger to mephedrone making going by past seizures. Back in 2022, the DRI raided two chemical manufacturing units in 2022, one in Chengicherla, and another at the Uppal Industrial Development Area, and seized around 25 kg of mephedrone worth almost ₹50 crore.
In 2024, a raid by the Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau at Sri Yadadri Life Sciences in Yadadri-Bhongir district yielded 120 kg of mephedrone and ephedrine, both together worth around ₹24 crore.
According to data from the Narcotics Control Bureau of India, last year saw 107.04 kg of mephedrone seized in Telangana.
Mephedrone seizures India*
Year – Quantity
2019 – 57.69 kg
2020 – 235 kg
2021 – 127 kg
2022 – 3,652 kg
2023 – 688 kg
2024 – 3,391 kg
