Man held for supplying 20kg ephedrine to dealers
We arrested Madderla on Monday and are interrogating him further to get to know the trail of the drug supply. DAYA NAYAK, police inspector, Amboli police station
MUMBAI: A Telangana-based chemical company owner was arrested on Monday for allegedly supplying 20-kilogram of ephedrine worth ₹3 crore to dealers who had come to Mumbai during New Year to sell it.
According to Amboli police, the 49-year-old accused, Shankar Madderla, was earlier arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in a 250-kilogram ephedrine case in 2017. He was out on bail.
On December 31, Amboli police arrested two accused drug dealers, Mohammad Ismail Gulamhusain, 45, and Dayanand Muddanar, 32, when they reached the city to sell them to peddlers who would further sell it in parties in Juhu, Bandra, Versova and Oshiwara. The two accused were also involved in a 200-kilogram ephedrine case that was seized by the NCB in 2013.
According to police, during interrogating the two accused, they got to know about Madderla’s involvement in the case. Gulamhusain and Muddanar had acquired the drug from Madderla and brought to Mumbai. Madderla had escaped to Secunderabad in Telangana after the duo was arrested in December. “We arrested Madderla on Monday and are interrogating him further to get to know the trail of the drug supply. He was tracked to Telangana by our team,” said Daya Nayak, police inspector, Amboli police station.
Police said that Madderla had taken the factory on lease, which is now partially shut. It is a chemical and drugs factory located at Chicksugur in Raichur district of Karnataka.
Police said that they suspect there is a hall in the factory which is still producing drugs which are supplied to the drug dealers.
Madderla was sent to one-day police custody and will now be produced in a special court. He was booked under section 22 and 29 of Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) act.
Ephedrine, a chemical drug, is used in drugs like methamphetamine.