Last year, four men rented a “luxurious and lonely private” house at Alestonia Estate in Greater Noida’s Chi III and set about “cooking”. And the fact that the area was isolated meant no one got a whiff of what they were up to. Until last week, when police arrested them and busted their “secret meth lab”. The four men - Eze Uchenna James (49); Alitumolfedi Shedrack (28); Ezelbe Emeka Chibuzo from Nigeria; and Ivo Osita from Kenya - were arrested allegedly manufacturing and supplying fine-quality Methamphetamine, senior officers said. DCP (Dwarka) Ankit Kumar said raw material amounting to 20.5 kg, including 1 kg of pseudoephedrine, was recovered. Describing the ‘lab’, officers said it had three rooms filled with gas cylinders and other cooking items. Sophisticated equipment, including a heating mantle machine and high-quality face masks, was also recovered. According to police, it was a tip-off on November 27 last year, received by the Dwarka unit’s anti-narcotics cell, that alerted them about Uchenna’s involvement in a drug syndicate. Accordingly, a trap was laid and he was arrested; almost 70 grams of fine-quality Methamphetamine was also recovered. Officers said Uchenna had been previously arrested in a commercial drug case by the Narcotics Control Bureau of Punjab and had been convicted for 10 years by a court. He was later granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Said the DCP, “During the investigation, we found that Shedrack, an accomplice of Uchenna, was. the one who supplied Methamphetamine to the latter to sell in the market.” A trap was laid in Uttam Nagar and he was arrested on January 11; police recovered 100 grams of the drug from his possession. “He had been previously arrested in a commercial drug case by the Punjab NCB and had been convicted for 10 years. He was presently out on bail,” added the DCP. Chibuzo and Osita were later arrested. An officer said, “They used to make the drug late at night. We are trying to trace their bank transactions to ascertain how much money they have made so far. we have sent their phones for forensics to trace phone numbers of those they supplied the drug to.” Officers said the drugs were to be distributed by the accused to their potential customers, mostly in Delhi-NCR. “If a high-profile customer was involved, they used to directly supply the drug to them or they had several middlemen to do the job. In May last year, police had busted two meth labs operating in a similar fashion in Greater Noida.
