What’s cooking? Inside the world of Mumbai’s drug networks
Raids across Maharashtra over the past three weeks point to how local drug manufacturers operate — through family networks, pop-up factories and more
7 min read
The isolated farmhouse in Mokhada in Palghar district, where mephedrone worth Rs 33 crore was seized during a raid on October 22. (Express Photo: Mohamed Thaver) Residents of Mokhada, a town in Maharashtra’s Palghar, talk about the isolated farmhouse — khoop aat madhe aahey (it’s located deep inside) — and its mysterious visitors.
“Two men would come here twice a month in their car — mostly alone, at times with their family — and stay for just two-four days. However, they would tell the watchman to make himself scarce during their stay. All would be quiet during the day, but at night, the lights would be switched on,” says Aadi Ramdas, a 25-year-old farmer from a village nearby.
A raid on the farmhouse on October 22 by a Mira-Bhayandar Vasai-Virar (MBVV) Crime Branch team had led to the arrest of 45-year-old Sameer Pinjara, allegedly the main “cook” at the unit where synthetic drugs were being manufactured, and led to the seizure of drugs worth Rs 36 crore. Eight arrests have been made so far in the case, a source said.
A police officer said, “Since Pinjara used to work for a pharma company in Hyderabad, he knew how to make drugs. His co-accused would order the raw materials needed to make these drugs online.”
Six “factory busts” across Maharashtra — in Palghar, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad and Solapur — over the past three weeks have revealed a pattern of careful selection of units to manufacture synthetic drugs, said law enforcement agencies.
The Pune-based factory that was raided by the Narcotics Control Bureau on October 6. (Photo: Special arrangement)
Pop-up factories, masking smells and fail-safes
A factory bust effectively cuts one head from the synthetic drug supply chain, for a few months at least, said sources from the MBVV Crime Branch.
Factory busts such as the one in Palghar were unheard of until a decade ago, they said, adding that such raids were mostly mounted by Central agencies, since only they had the wherewithal to conduct them. According to media reports, a mere six busts took place in Maharashtra between 2019 and the recent raids.
With a spike in the consumption of locally made synthetic drugs in Mumbai over the more expensive plant-based narcotics such as cocaine that have to be imported from abroad, cartels have switched to pop-up operations in isolated farmhouses, sick units and factories falling under state industrial corporations, say enforcement officials.
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Mumbai Zonal Director Amit Ghawate added, “Some gangs even manufacture mephedrone (a synthetic drug better known as meow meow) at home.”
“Cartels have realised that instead of evading multiple law enforcement agencies across the globe to supply cocaine from South America or hashish from Afghanistan, it’s easier to manufacture synthetic drugs like mephedrone at a small unit locally,” an officer said.
However, location of these units is key.
An IPS officer explained, “When mephedrone is manufactured, the smells range from vanilla to bleach and stale urine. So manufacturers look for units or factories far from habitation or one that is located around something smelly to help mask the smell.”
“For instance,” the officer said, “some cartels manufacture their stock during the monsoon since heavy rain helps mask the smell.”
Of the two factories busted in Pune on October 6, Ghawate said one was located in a chikoo (sapodilla) orchard and the other next to a poultry farm.
“In these factories, soak pits (chambers where refuse is released) were made since there were no sewage lines. The soak pits were filled with cow dung and mud to help mask the smell of drugs,” Ghawate added.
A Mumbai Police officer said, “Some Nigerian gangs cook (manufacture drugs) near drains or gutters. In Dharavi (considered the world’s largest slum), they do it near tanneries to hide the smell.”
An official said even factories under corporations like Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC), which have large factories, including sick ones, that are located at isolated spots away from cities, have been rented to make drugs.
“The Solapur unit raided on October 14 by the Mumbai Crime Branch was a sick factory that had been rented,” an official said.
Following drug busts, the officer said cartels put in place some fail-safes to keep the next base of their operations a secret even from those involved in the manufacture of synthetic drugs.
“They rent a factory/unit for just a few weeks and ensure that only 3-4 people are involved in manufacturing a good quantity (about 50-100 kg of synthetic drugs) before shifting the operation elsewhere,” the officer added.
The Mumbai Police raided a factory in Nashik on October 5 and recovered 150 kg of mephedrone worth Rs 300 crore. (Photo: Special arrangement)
The cook, the pharmacist and the peddler
The police said manufacturing synthetic drugs is a “relatively simple procedure”, since it requires a small space and a pharmacist who can cook. Of six raids across the state recently, mephedrone was recovered at four sites.
“To make mephedrone, you need just five chemicals that are available easily and a pharmacist with some knowledge of cooking. A typical manufacturing cycle takes 4-5 days and one batch yields nearly 25 kg of mephedrone,” said a police officer.
Brothers Rahul Gawli, 32 and Atul Gawli, 28, arrested recently in Solapur, were allegedly using “formulae written down by a person with chemical expertise” to manufacture the drugs themselves. The officer said the brothers are Class 10 dropouts.
Talking about the role of the pharmacist, an officer said, “Besides identifying isolated units to cook, a doctor (pharmacist) — the role played by Walter White in (the 2008 series) Breaking Bad — usually uses his contacts to source the chemicals required.”
An NCB officer added, “Restricted chemicals used to make medicines can also be used to make drugs. Those in the pharma industry are aware of what they stand to gain by doing that. Though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), health department and NCB keep an eye on supply of chemicals restricted under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) Act, some pharmacists do give in to the temptation.”
Of family-run businesses
Yet another precaution taken by the cartels is to keep just one person as a go-between the manufactures and peddlers. Officers said the mephedrone manufactured in Palghar was allegedly supplied directly to peddlers at a lodge in Mumbai’s Mira Road.
“The arrest of these peddlers blew the lid off the operation. We wouldn’t have known about it otherwise since very few people were involved in the manufacturing, no locals were employed and the farmhouse was owned by the main accused,” an officer says.
An officer said most of the recently busted operations managed to stay below their radar because only family members were part of these enterprises. “These businesses operated like a cottage industry to ensure no one tipped-off the police,” said a senior officer.
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