Pune Rs 20 cr mephedrone seizure: Chemistry post graduate held

Six more people, including a post- graduate in organic chemistry, have been held in connection with a haul of Rs 20 crore worth of mephedrone in Punes Pimpri Chinchwad area, police said on Monday. Lohare has an M.Sc degree in organic chemistry and would train others in manufacturing mephedrone.

Six more people, including a post- graduate in organic chemistry, have been held in connection with a haul of Rs 20 crore worth of mephedrone in Pune's Pimpri Chinchwad area, police said on Monday. The drug haul was made in October from Chakan and five people were arrested at that time and nine more, including a Nigerian national, a few days later.

"We have now arrested six people, identified as Parshuram Jogal (44), Mandar Bhosale (49), Ram Gurbani (43), Arvindkumar Lohare (39), Manoj Palande ( 40) and Afsal Abbas. Lohare has an M.Sc degree in organic chemistry and would train others in manufacturing mephedrone. He collected Rs 35 lakh as fees," an official said.

Lohare has cases registered against his name in Nashik and Igatpuri for alleged manufacture of mephedrone, he said. Police investigations have found the accused were using a defunct biotech firm in Ranjangaon, owned by one of them, to manufacture 132 kilograms of mephedrone, of which 112 kg had been sold.