MUMBAI: A factory at Vasai where mephedrone was being manufactured was busted by a police team from Sakinaka recently, seizing drugs worth Rs 8 crore. Three people have been arrested and the mastermind is wanted.
Since 2023 till date, Sakinaka police have seized drugs worth Rs 450 crore and busted factories in Rajasthan, UP and Maharashtra, DCP Sachin Gunjal informed.

On April 24, a Sakinaka police team acted on specific information and nabbed one Sadiq Shaikh, 28, with 53 gm of mephedrone from Retiwala Compound at Sakinaka. The drug was worth Rs 10 lakh.
After working on leads provided by Shaikh, police traced a factory at Kamangaon in Vasai within 60 hours.
Under the guise of making cement blocks, the factory was used for manufacturing mephedrone. A centrifugal machine and two refrigerators were seized from the factory.
The centrifugal machines were used to convert liquids to solids while the refrigerators were used for slow cooling and converting solid to crystal form. Four gm of mephedrone worth Rs 8 crore was seized from the factory on April 26.
Besides Shaikh, police arrested Siraj Panjwani, 57, and Sayyad Irani. Panjwani and Irani have a prior criminal record under the NDPS Act. All three men were a part of the drug supply chain, police said.
Police said Panjwani, a well-off individual based out of Mira Road, was supplied the drugs by one Kaluram Chaudhary, who is on the run.