Delhi's salt biz stores used to hide 1 tonne meow-meow drug

Investigators probing the Mephedrone seizure worth over Rs 3,000 crore in the national capital and Pune on Thursday said two makeshift godowns in south Delhi, taken on a paltry rent of Rs 10,000 each under the guise of salt trade, were used to store 970 kg of the banned drug.

In operations carried out in Pune and Delhi, a whopping 1,700 kg of Mephedrone, also called "Meow Meow" have been seized which was valued at around Rs 3,500 crore in the international market. So far eight people have been arrested after multiple raids in the two cities were conducted, police said.

The Delhi police also started an investigation to find out the route from where the drug entered the national capital and what quantity was supplied to local drug dealers, officials said.

The police said that a West Bengal-native man had taken two different rooms in south Delhi on rent for Rs 10,000 each in Kotla Mubarakpur and Masjid Moth areas of Hauz Khas from a local property dealer.

A team of the Pune police's Crime Branch contacted the Delhi police and requested a joint raid in connection with a narcotics case in which three persons had been arrested from Pune and some quantities of Mephedrone had been seized.

A case has been registered on the matter in Pune under the NDPS Act.

Based on information received from those arrested, a raid was conducted at Delhi's Kotla Mubarakpur on Tuesday, a police officer said.

Around 300 kg of Mephedrone was seized and two more people were arrested in the raid, the officer said.

"Around 600 kg of Mephadrone was seized and recovered from a rented shop in Masjid Moth in Hauz Khas. The room and the shop were recently taken on rent," the officer said.

Mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant often associated with the "rave party culture" for its euphoric effects, a senior police officer said.

The police said seizures in Pune and Delhi totalled 720 kg and 970 kg, respectively, with a combined value estimated to be around Rs 3,500 crore.

Police sources said many teams were formed to investigate the matter and to keep a strict vigil for information on local drug suppliers.