Hyderabad: Telangana Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TGANB) probing the alprazolam-laced toddy case in the state has traced the origin of the racket to Maharashtra. The link to the racket — which led to over 80 people falling ill in Kamareddy district last month — came to light following the arrest of six people, including manufacturers and middlemen, from Maharashtra earlier this week.Officials said the key individuals operating the racket were leading a luxurious life, moving in swanky cars and hoarding huge amounts of cash.Based on the confessions of the accused, the bureau officials discovered two factories in Maharashtra’s Umarga and Kharad where drugs were being manufactured illegally. “Apart from the 100 kg of ready-to-use alprazolam, we also found 338 kg of chemicals that had reached stage 4. Alprazolam production is a five-stage chemical process,” a bureau source told TOI.The six accused, including manufacturers Amar Singh Deshmukh and Babu Rao Baswaraj Kadere and middlemen Laxman Goud and Vishwanth, have been brought to Telangana on a prisoner transit warrant.“The searches were conducted earlier this week with the support of local police. Simultaneous raids at multiple locations helped us nab the accused. Some of them are henchmen of local politicians and were using their political clout to run the drug manufacturing business,” a TGANB official said.The manufacturers had built a network through which they were supplying alprazolam to toddy compounds.“The arrested accused were supplying the drug to toddy compounds located in various rural districts of Telangana. Their network spans across Karnataka and the erstwhile districts of Adilabad, Nizamabad, and Medak. It was a three-day operation that led to the unravelling of this racket,” an official said.The accused were selling 1 kg of alprazolam for Rs 25 lakh. To adulterate toddy, just one gram of the drug was enough for 2,000 bottles, officials said.“The manufacturers were making huge profits from this illegal business. For every rupee invested, they were making a profit of Rs 100. The accused owned multiple high-end cars and, at any given time, had at least Rs 25 lakh in cash,” an official added.At the time of arrest, police seized Rs 12 lakh in cash from them.