Film producer wrote drug story of Rs 2,000 crore, smuggling of meth chemical

Three members of the gang have been arrested.

New Delhi:

Being a part of the lucrative film business was not enough for a Tamil film producer who chose to become the mastermind of a drug racket from which his gang earned nearly Rs 2,000 crore in just three years.

Narcotics Control Bureau officials said they had received information from customs officials in New Zealand and police in Australia that large quantities of pseudoephedrine, a key chemical used to make methamphetamine, was being sent to the countries disguised in dried coconut powder or health concoctions. Was.

Methamphetamine, also known as meth or crystal meth, is a drug that is in huge demand across the world and is sold at around Rs 1.5 crore per kilogram in Australia and New Zealand.

“After inputs from the US Drug Enforcement Administration indicated that the consignment was being sent from Delhi, a joint team of Delhi Police Special Cell and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) was formed. Four months of intensive technical and field surveillance Later, it was revealed that these operators were again in Delhi and trying to send another consignment to Australia,” NCB Deputy Director General Dnyaneshwar Singh said.

Officials said surveillance led them to a warehouse in west Delhi’s Basai Darapur, where the gang members were caught trying to hide pseudoephedrine in multigrain food mix for smuggling. Three members of the gang were arrested and 50 kg of chemicals were seized.

An official said sustained interrogation of people hailing from Tamil Nadu revealed that the gang had sent 45 consignments in the last three years, including 3,500 kg of pseudoephedrine, which is worth over Rs 2,000 crore in the international market.

An officer said, “The mastermind of the nexus has been identified as a Tamil film producer, who is on the run. We are working hard to arrest him so that we can trace the source of the pseudoephedrine.”

The NCB has also reached out to New Zealand and Australian authorities to arrest the people who received the consignment in those countries.