DRI inter-state drug bust: Two ‘masterminds’ on the run from law in UK and Canada

Last month, DRI raided four factories in Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat and seized about 308 kg of Ketamine worth Rs 30 crore and raw materials that could have resulted in another 250 kg of the drug worth about Rs 25 crore. The latest seizure of Ketamine is 720 per cent more than the overall seizure of 68 kg in calendar year 2016. DRI, sources said, has informed Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on the arrests of the foreign nationals and is now planning to send its team to the UK and Canada to gather more information from law enforcement agencies.

Sources said Cuong was granted parole by a Canadian law enforcement agency to visit Vietnam after serving eight years in prison, but he jumped parole and came to India. Coung , said DRI sources, is a chemist who was in-charge of quality supervision of Ketamine that was being produced in factories in Goa.

Apart from this, DRI sources said Thorn and another arrested accused Barry John, also a British national, have allegedly also violated Indian passport norms. Both of them “fraudulently” obtained overseas citizen of India card, which allows entry and exit from India without any visa. The agency has also found that a Gujarat-based firm Yami Enterprises was allegedly used to export Ketamine overseas. Yami is in the business of exporting Bentonite powder. This syndicate is believed to have supplied Ketamine to international drug traffickers in the UK, Canada, Sri Lanka, Congo, Mozambique, Malaysia, Swaziland, Nepal, Australia, Vietnam and Kenya, said a DRI official.

According to sources, the syndicate had a well-established chain of supply. The payment for the raw material and finished products allegedly took place through hawala. The agency has so far arrested 12 people from Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Madhya Pradesh in connection with the illegal manufacture and supply of Ketamine in Indian and abroad. “The syndicate has exported Ketamine chemically composed up to 90 per cent. Such a product usually does not show properties of Ketamine when tested and can bypass supervision,” said a source.

DRI, sources said, has seized about 226 kg of Ketamine from Jaivijay Industries in Rasayani in Maharashtra, 30 kg from Bliss Chem in Baroda and 52 kg from two factories in Goa, including Vijay Industries.

The Rasayani factory was the main manufacturing unit where Ketamine was chemically composed up to 90 per cent and was later transferred to the factories in Goa and Baroda for processing it into Ketamine.