Mumbai: Drug-making YouTube tutorials keeping authorities up at night

The easy availability of banned chemicals over the dark web and drug manufacturing tutorials on YouTube facilitate the production of mephedrone MD and enable traffickers reap unexpectedly high profits in no timeOver two weeks midday met numerous individuals accused of orchestrating large syndicates involved in synthetic drug production and police officers to grasp the intricate methods employed by MD manufacturers to conceal their illicit operationsRoping in the unemployedOnce raw materials are obtained traffickers need a safe production lab be it a functional or defunct chemical factory or a small room in a building or slum to synthesise chemicals To run their syndicates smoothly the masterminds lure welleducated unemployed individuals facing financial hardship The gang leaders offer them a means to support themselves and their households said a police officerHowever things arent as straightforward as they appear revealed a few people from drug manufacturing syndicates who were sent to jail in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances NDPS cases in MaharashtraOne needs a licence to purchase of chemicals that are used to manufacture mephedrone Representation picFree tutorialsPolice said that free tutorials on the internet are a headache for agencies ldquoThere are many videos available on YouTube uploaded from all over in the world and people watch them across the globe Many accused have told us that they got tempted by the lure of easy money after watching such contentrdquo said the police ldquoThe entire mephedroneproduction process is explained in YouTube videosrdquo the police saidIntermediariesrsquo roleSources revealed that prior to a 2014 ban and MDrsquos classification as a narcotic substance they could readily obtain the required chemical components with easeldquoBefore the government banned MD components in 2014 they were available for R15000 in total The price is now R50000 but only a licenceholder can buy these chemicals from a shoprdquo said a sourceldquoAfter the ban the raw materials are not easily available One needs a licence to justify their purchase So the traffickers started to seek out intermediaries to obtain the chemicalsrdquo confided a source who added that corrupt pharmacists play a vital role in the smooth and discreet operations of drug syndicatesDark matterAnother source revealed that if traffickers fail to entice pharmacists they turn to the hidden corners of the internet ie the dark web which must be accessed via a specialised browser to make anonymous visitsldquoIn a bid to dodge police crackdown the racketeers hire techsavvy people to source chemical components illegally via the dark web bitcoin is used to make purchases Once the order is placed the components are delivered within 20 daysrdquo said the sourceThe Chinese connectionDrug lords take the help of courier companies to source banned chemicals from foreign countries such as China Recently the MBVV police arrested a 45yearold drug lord Sameer Pinjar who had been sourcing key chemicals from China via courier to run a clandestine synthetic drug manufacturing unit in Mokhada that had been secretly running for over 18 monthsPolice said that Pinjar had worked at a chemical factory in Hyderabad and was knowledgeable about the exportimport business His knowledge aided in understanding chemical properties while his exportimport exposure revealed system loopholes for personal gain said the policeAccording to sources a precise blend of chemicals is needed to synthesise products accurately otherwise there could be explosions in the drug factory ldquoSo to avoid any mishaps drug traffickers entice chemical engineers into synthesising chemical componentsrdquo said the sourceSince low investment yields unexpectedly high returns in manufacturing synthetic drugs chemical engineers who initially worked for drug lords at their factories start setting up their own labs to earn crores of rupees in a monthLast year in October the Gujarat police and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence DRI personnel arrested chemical engineer Jitesh Hinhoria a former employee of a pharmaceutical company for running a narcotic empire in Aurangabad and seized crores of rupees He is accused of running a drug manufacturing plant where many synthetic drugs were reportedly preparedIn August 2022 the antinarcotics cell ANC of the Mumbai police arrested Dahisar resident Prem Prakash Singh in a Rs 2500crore drug bust Singh came to Mumbai with nothing and apprenticed with multiple legitimate drug companies before turning rogue after receiving a chance Telegram messagePolice said Singh did his MSc in 1992 from Purvanchal University Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh The 54yearold Dahisar man who emerged as the sole manufacturer of synthetic drugs amassed huge assets including 10 flats five shops land parcels godowns R35crore investments R5 crore bank deposits benami properties worth crores and countinghellipUnder pressureldquoSome Nigerians are so adept at preparing MD that they donrsquot need any production lab or chemical engineerrsquos help They can manufacture the synthetic drug right in their kitchen They simply pressurecook the components pack the drug in small pouches and peddle them in the marketrdquo said a police officerIt has come to light that racketeers have shifted their MD labs from defunct chemical factories to remote hamlets to secluded locations to slumsRecently the sleuths of the Mumbai Crime Branch busted a drug manufacturing plant in a village in Sangli where a 34yearold Mira Road man Pravin Shinde had been running a drug manufacturing factory surrounded by grape farms The cops seized MD worth R245 crore from Shindersquos factory Though the youth studied up to Std X he earned the moniker lsquoDoctorrsquo after making a footprint in the drug businessLockdown love for MDSources in the police department told midday that most MD manufacturing factories were set up during the pandemic because the demand for drugs increased during the lockdownldquoThere was a lack of selfconfidence among people MD kicks in 45 minutes after its consumption Drug peddlers revealed during their interrogation that MD kills anxiety and keeps people in a happy moodSo its demand and sales saw an exponential rise during the lockdown Many couples also used MD to boost their sexual staminardquo said an officerA source said ldquoSince welleducated jobless people already joined the drug traffickers it became easier for them to push small MD packets among youths near educational institutions pubs bars and discothequesParty animals as well as people from the Btown world and a few models are already addicted to MD as it keeps one sedated for at least six to seven hoursrdquoldquoBecause of the huge demand traffickers started to manufacture MD on a large scale Others took a cue and set up plants in remote areas Now MD is beingmanufactured in ghettos where it is really difficult to zero in on operationsrdquo said the officerNCBSpeakAmit Ghawate Zonal director of the Narcotics Control BureauldquoThe increasing demand for synthetic drugs had resulted in the establishment of factories Localas well as the central agencies are acting against syndicates but the supply of chemicals should also be stopped Meanwhile the Food Drugs and Administration FDA and factory inspector should also ensure narcotic manufacturing units are busted before the racket is operationalrdquoA senior official Narcotics Control BureauldquoChemicals used in making the product are easily available on portals where one can buy groceries as well as the dark net Bitcoin is mostly used to make purchases on the dark net as transactions locations or names arenrsquot recordedrdquo