Son of a former BJP MLA has been booked in connection with the seizure of 1,300 kg of ephedrine at Kanbha, Ahmedabad, last week. Kishoresinh Rathod, 43, son of Bhavsinh Rathod, who defected to the Congress in 2012, who is believed to be the kingpin of an international drug cartel, has been slapped with sections of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
Crime Branch officials seized ephedrine worth £27 million from Ria Industries, also arresting one Narendra Kacha while Kishoresinh and four others have been declared absconding. Ephedrine is a 'controlled' chemical used to make the 'party drug' methamphetamine. JCP J K Bhatt said, “The ephedrine consignment was collected by Kishoresinh and Jay Mukhi from a factory in Solapur (Maharashtra), owned by a trader named Punit who hails from Vadodara. It was offloaded at Ria Industries last week.” The ongoing investigation includes names of Zahid, an NRG based in Morocco, former Chhota Rajan aide Ravi Pujari, and Vicky Goswami who is a member of an international drug mafia. It is said Kishoresinh met Zahid and other drug lords from Poland in London and Dubai.
Bhatt has also pointed out at a terror angle in the whole drug racket. “The party drug was to be shipped out of the country as medicine shortly,” he said. The drug network is believed to be spread across Poland, Dubai, and Goa. In other developments, as investigators dig deeper into the racket, ATS officials said it was not just Dubai and London where the drug lords met often, but also Kenya. “Arrested accused Narendra Kacha has confessed before us that in December 2015, he, along with Kishoresinh, a bootlegger from Shahpur, and one other person had visited Kenya. There they met three drug lords from Poland,” an ATS official said.
They said they have now written to the immigration authorities to verify whether Kishoresinh has already fled the country. “We have also issued a lookout notice to track Kishoresinh,” added an officer. “We are tracking the role of Morocco-based NRG Zahid. The drug consignment was to be sent through him to drug lords in Poland.”
Subsequently, the Thane crime branch seized 20 tonnes of ephedrine worth over £150 million from a factory in Solapur, Maharashtra. The sources said it was the same factory from where the chemical was transported to Ahmedabad. “We had provided information to Thane crime branch officials. Punit, an accused in the Ahmedabad case is working as a manager in the Solapur factory,” an Ahmedabad crime branch source said.
