MUMBAI: The Mira-Bhayandar-Vasai-Virar police have busted a chemical manufacturing unit in Telangana that allegedly supplied a key ingredient used to make mephedrone, or MD, as part of their investigation into a drug racket linked to underworld operative Dawood Ibrahim’s close aide Salim Dola.
The Crime Detection Branch’s Unit 4 raided the factory in Pashamylaram on Wednesday and arrested Ramesh Babu Sake, a resident of Medchal-Malkajgiri in Hyderabad, who allegedly manufactured and supplied the controlled chemical. Police seized 44.699 kg of the chemical, valued at ₹ 27.06 lakh, along with raw materials and laboratory equipment. The raid is the latest breakthrough in a case that began with the seizure of 112 grams of MD in Nalasopara East in June and has since led police to alleged manufacturing units in Telangana, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.
Investigators believe the network was involved in everything from producing chemicals and setting up factories to supplying drugs and managing the money involved.
The facility was subsequently dismantled, officers said.
The investigation subsequently led police to Dola, who is suspected of being a close aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim. The Telangana factory was not the only manufacturing unit uncovered during the investigation. Police also raided an alleged MD factory on agricultural land in Kutch, Gujarat. Another unit was reportedly set up on agricultural land in Kosada Kala in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. The latest recovery of the controlled chemical in Telangana has given investigators another lead to pursue in their probe into the alleged supply chain.
Avinash alias Sonu Loknath Iyer, 22, and Ravikant Omprakash Ram, 23, both residents of Pragati Nagar in Nalasopara East, were allegedly found with 112 grams of MD, worth ₹ 3.36 lakh, at 8.40 pm on June 24, 2026, according to Deputy Commissioner of Police Sandeep Doiphode. A case was registered against them at Tulinj police station under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. So far, 25 people have been arrested in connection with the case from Nalasopara, Mumbai, Kalyan, Neral, Jalgaon and locations in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana. The seizures made so far include 69 kg and 871 grams of MD, cash, 260 litres of chemicals used in its production and laboratory equipment. Among those arrested are Murtuza Mohammadbhai Patrawala, 36, a resident of Shahada in Nandurbar; Shubham Vinod More, 23, from Malkapur in Buldhana; Salim, alias Salimmai Ismail, alias Ismail Dola, 61, a resident of Ghodapdeo in Cotton Green; Sabir Mohammad Dewalekar, alias King Memon, alias Sabirali, 42, a resident of Vile Parle West; and Mohammad Tehrim Abdul Rais Siddiqui, 37, from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh.
Dola allegedly used hawala channels to funnel large sums of money to the accused to set up factories for manufacturing MD, according to police. “When Dola was in Turkey, he had pumped in huge amounts of cash to the accused through hawala to set up factories to manufacture MD,” said Pramod Badakh, senior police inspector of Crime Branch Unit 4. Dola was recently apprehended by Turkish agencies following months of surveillance and intelligence-sharing, according to details of the investigation. Police said the accused allegedly handled different parts of the operation, including manufacturing MD and precursor chemicals, procuring raw materials and laboratory equipment, trafficking and selling drugs, and managing financial transactions. Police said the investigation is continuing to establish the roles of those arrested and trace the network involved in manufacturing and supplying MD and the chemicals required to produce it.
