NCR’s Walter White aka Heisenberg: Police bust meth lab operated by 9 foreigners in Greater Noida

The Gautam Budh Nagar police on Wednesday busted a meth lab set up and operated by foreign nationals from a three-storey residential building in Greater Noida, arresting nine people and recovering drugs worth around ₹200 crore, said officials aware of the crackdown on an elaborate operation that went unnoticed for at least a year.

One of the arrested suspects tried to set the whole unit afire when they spotted the police arriving at the building. The police, however, snuffed out the arson attempt, even as another of the suspects jumped off the third floor. He was arrested by police officers waiting on the ground floor.

The incident triggered chatter on the similarities with the Breaking Bad show, in which the protagonist Walter White aka Heisenberg started cooking meth.

Meth and crystal meth are the common terms for methamphetamine, a powerful and highly addictive synthetic narcotic.

The foreigners, eight from Nigeria and one from Senegal, set up their meth lab across all floors of the three-storey building in Greater Noida’s Theta 2 sector, adding that they seized raw material, apparatus and associated chemicals worth ₹100 crore from the flat.

The chemicals seized include methyl alcohol, hypophosphoric acid, hydrosulfuric acid, iodine crystals, ammonia, ephedrine, acetone, sulfur, copper salts, among others, said the police, underlining the scale of the illegal operation.

The suspects were identified as Anudum Emmanuel, Ajoku Ubaka, Daniel Azuh, Levi Uzochukw, Jacob Emefiele, Kofie, Chidi Ijiagwa, Ajoku Klechi (all residents of Nigeria) and Dramemond from Senegal. All of them appeared to be living in the country illegally, said officers.

The racket depended largely on business from Delhi, only accepted bulk orders and payment in cryptocurrency, officers added.

Gautam Budh Nagar police chief Laxmi Singh called the operation “one of the biggest-ever drug busts in Uttar Pradesh”.

“The police had received tip-offs about a large drug racket in the area. At least 46kg of methamphetamine was recovered in its purest, white form,” said Singh.

On Wednesday morning, the police laid a trap at Greater Noida’s Dhadha roundabout, around 6km from the residence-turned-lab.

“Two of the nine suspects were nabbed from the roundabout in Greater Noida with about 5.5kg of meth. The two suspects were interrogated, with their inputs leading us to the three-storey house in Theta-2,” said the officer.

The police detailed what appeared to be a well-oiled racket, run by “experienced people”.

“The suspects had ample experience and may have been trained to deal with sophisticated apparatus and chemicals,” said police commissioner Singh. “They used professional gloves, splash-proof goggles and respirators,” said the commissioner.

The suspects also had a robust supply chain in place, said the police.

“The suspects procured raw material from chemical suppliers locally. Police teams are working to trace these suppliers and crack down on the distribution network. Most of the orders placed with the suspects were in bulk and payments were being done in cryptocurrency,” said the commissioner.

She added that the police are investigating the suspects’ potential terror links.

Police did not recover any personal or identification documents from the suspects, including visas, passports or even bank account papers.

SM Khan, deputy commissioner of police (Greater Noida), who led the operation, said, “The suspects were active in Delhi and used to frequent Greater Noida as well. None of their documents have been found from their possession. During interrogation, they named another person who apparently has their documents. That person is being traced,” said the officer.

He said the Narcotics Crime Bureau and Uttar Pradesh Anti Narcotics Task Force have been informed about the bust, as well as the respective embassies. “We have also initiated paperwork to gather more information about the suspects from their home countries,” he said.

“The manufacturing process included cooking ephedrine on a burner and extracting meth in a solution of acetone, ethanol or methanol. After extraction, the meth was frozen in a solution of methanol or acetone. Freezing this resulted in a pure form of the drug,” said Khan.

The police have also asked the landlord, who lives in Ghaziabad, to join the investigation.