Bengaluru,(India): NCB Bengaluru and Hyderabad busted another clandestine laboratory manufacturing Alprazolam in Hyderabad. The clandestine lab was busted after the NCB Bengaluru Zonal Unit and Hyderabad Subzone arrested four persons near Ujwala Grand on Medak–Hyderabad Road on August 14 on a tip off, NCB Bangalore Zonal Unit (IRS Zonal Director) Amit Ghawate said. The joint NCB team recovered Rs 12.75 lakh worth drugs and 3.25 kg of Alprazolam from the arrested persons, namely Y Sudhakar, A Naresh, KP Kumar and A Srikanth, he said. Alprazolam is widely used as a cutting agent for illicit toddy in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. This is a very dangerous brew and causes serious health complications, including death, Ghawate said. The joint team arrested Sudhakar and Naresh when an exchange of Alprazolam and cash was happening in a car. During the interrogation, NCB officials seized another car and also found a clandestine laboratory operating in the residential area, in the house of Sudhakar in Hyderabad, he said. In this lab, raw Alprazolam at various stages of manufacturing was found in various lab apparatus like flask, reactor, drier etc. Some quantity of Alprazolam and a large quantity of raw material was seized from this clandestine lab, Ghawate said. Yet another clandestine lab in the adjoining flat and a makeshift room just below the overhead water tank in which many instruments and chemicals were also unearthed, he said. They had purchased a new reactor and drier to expand their facility of manufacturing of Alprazolam, which was found in this lab and was seized, Ghawate said. In the followup operation, a person named R Pamarthi, who was operating the laboratory, was also apprehended. He had got a licence for manufacturing of genuine medical formulations in the name of Kartikeya Life Sciences, but misused the facility for clandestine manufacturing of Alprazolam, he said. This syndicate was operating for more than five years in the manufacturing of Alprazolam. They used to manufacture alprazolam in batches of 4 to 5 kg and sell it to various groups in Hyderabad, Ghawate said. Further investigation is in progress.
