The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has dismantled a mobile mephedrone manufacturing unit in Maharashtra’s Satara district, seized drugs worth ₹55 crore and arrested five persons, officials said.
Acting on inputs, DRI officials conducted ‘Operation Sahyadri Checkmate’ on Friday (January 23, 2026) in a remote village in the Karad tehsil, an official said on Sunday (January 25, 2026).
Teams from the country’s premier anti-smuggling agency carried out a raid and unearthed a fully operational laboratory, equipped for mephedrone production, camouflaged as a poultry farm. The unit was frequently shifting locations to evade detection, officials said.
“The seizure included 11.848 kg of the drug in liquid form, 9.326kg in semi-liquid form, and 738 grams in crystalline form, along with 71.5kg of raw material capable of yielding another 15kg of mepehdrone, collectively worth about ₹55 crore,” the official said.
Mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant and is commonly described as a party drug. It carries serious health risks. Three persons, including the manufacturer or “cook”, the “financer-consigner”, and the poultry farm owner, were apprehended at the spot, an official said, adding that the first batch of the contraband had been hidden at the farm owner’s residence.
