CHANDIGARH (TIP): Another mega synthetic drug racket, believed to be part of Rs 6,000 crore ring run by kingpin Jagdish Bhola, was busted on June 5 after the arrest of two masterminds, including an Abohar-based pharamaceutical businessman Varinder Sandhu, from Chandigarh. Sandhu’s aide Bikramjit Singh alias Pappi was arrested from Ropar by Patiala cops in a 72-hour operation that began on Tuesday.

The two were sent to 5-day police custody by the judicial magistrate, RPS Cheema, at a Patiala court. TOI had reported on June 4 that Punjab cops were on the trail of Rs 200-crore synthetic drug racket. Sandhu’s factories in Baddi in Himachal Pradesh where precursor chemicals were manufactured were also raided and chemicals seized. Police did not disclose the amount of drugs seized from Sandhu’s factories., but it is estimated to be Rs 300 crore. According to the FIR, a copy of which is with TOI, Sandhu holds a Canadian passport.

He, along with one Sandeep Singh Sidhu alias Soni and Nagendra Singh of Bathinda, were synthesising chemicals used to make party drug ICE, known as crystal meth or Speed. These drugs were being sent to Canada, Australia and England. “A hotel called Royal Castle on Bhawanigarh-Patiala road was used to collect drugs for delivery to different locations,” the FIR said. “Most of these people have passports of Canada, Australia, America, England to enable them to travel easily to other countries,” the FIR said.