NEW DELHI: The Narcotics Control Bureau said Tuesday it had busted a secret methamphetamine production laboratory linked to members of the Mexican drug cartel Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generacion. NCB officials said Indian nationals were running the laboratory in an industrial area in Gautam Budh Nagar near Delhi.

NCB deputy director general (DDG) Gyaneshwar Singh said the four arrested included a Mumbai-based chemist and a Tihar jail warden.

NCB is looking for a Mexican national, suspected to be a member of Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generacion, living in Delhi, who was assigned to test the purity of the drug.

NCB’s DDG Kumar Singh said: “Acting on information that a laboratory has been set up in Delhi NCR for the production of synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine for export to other countries as well as for consumption in India where members of the Mexican CJNG drug cartel (Cartel De) are present.” ; Jalisco Nueva Generacion), NCB conducted a search operation at a factory in Kasana Industrial Area in Gautam Budh Nagar district on October 25, 2024 and found approximately 95 kg of Methamphetamine in solid and liquid form. Chemicals like Grade Ethanol, Toluene, Red phosphorus, Ethyl Acetate etc. and imported machinery for production were also found and special cell of Delhi Police also participated in the operation as footprints of the drug network were found in various parts of Delhi NCR.

According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) website, Cartel De Jalisco Nueva Generacion is one of the five most dangerous transnational criminal organizations in the world. He is responsible for smuggling tons of cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl-laced heroin into the United States.

A West Delhi businessman and a Tihar Jail warden were at the factory at the time of the raid, Singh said. According to the officer’s statement, the duo was instrumental in establishing the illegal factory, obtaining the chemicals required for methamphetamine production from various sources, and importing the machinery.

“The businessman was earlier arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in an NDPS case and lodged in Tihar jail, where he met his accomplice, the jail warden.

Singh added that they have agreed with a Mumbai-based chemist to produce medicine. A member of the Mexican cartel living in Delhi was testing the quality of drugs.

The four people arrested by the NCB will be kept in police custody for three days.

The federal agency is currently investigating the gang’s back and forth connections, financial traces and assets acquired.

This is the fifth lab raided by NCB this year. Authorities believe that the drug mafia has begun to set up such secret laboratories in industrial areas to produce synthetic drugs such as methamphetamine and mephedrone, so that local law enforcement agencies are not alerted by the transportation of materials and machinery, waste and toxic substances produced from laboratories. smoke coming from chimneys.