BENGALURU: Three days after the arrest of an alleged interstate drug peddler Mahindra Kumar Vishnoi on January 28 in Surat by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Ahmedabad, which led to the busting of a “sophisticated illicit manufacturing unit in the Hebbal Industrial Area in Mysuru”, a team of scientists from the National Forensic Science University (NFSU), Gandhinagar visited the ‘chemical’ manufacturing plant in Mysuru on Saturday. Vishnoi was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.
According to sources, who didn’t wish to be named, the forensic scientists reportedly ruled out that it was a phenyl manufacturing unit.
“The setup inside the unit is allegedly not of a chemical cleaner or phenyl manufacturing facility. The NFSU team reportedly found traces of Mephedrone (MD) in the now-sealed unit,” said sources.
Vishnoi’s car with Karnataka registration was intercepted in Palsana, Surat district, Gujarat, on January 28 by the NCB, Ahmedabad. The search of the vehicle led to the recovery of about 35 kg of MD – banned empathogen – a stimulant drug, also called ‘meow meow,’ or ‘M-CAT,’ which is used in recreational settings because of its stimulant effects similar to drugs such as amphetamines (particularly MDMA) and cocaine.
On Friday, Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara said the NCB raid on the “phenyl manufacturing unit was only a follow-up to a drug seizure in another state”, while categorically ruling out that it was a narcotics manufacturing unit or that any contraband was found in it.
Mysuru City Police Commissioner Seema Latkar too had maintained that the NCB ‘inspection’ was linked to an Ahmedabad drug case and that no machinery or substances related to drug production were present at the unit. The NCB, meanwhile, has arrested Ganpath under the NDPS Act. He ran the controversial chemical plant in Mysuru . He is a resident of Alanahalli and said to be related to Vishnoi.