Mumbai Police nabs drug mafia Lalit Patil from Chennai: What we know so far about the Mephedrone case

"The quantity of drugs recovered is more than 150 kgs which costs more than Rs 300 crore. Our detection team has continuously worked on it. We arrested him in a place between Bengaluru and Chennai. Today we brought him to Mumbai and took him into police custody. We have arrested only one accused. Our investigation about this accused is at an initial stage."

Lalit Patil has been in Yerawada jail since 2020 for drug possession. However, as he was suffering from health complications, he was later admitted to ward number 16 of Sassoon Hospital in Pune. He managed to flee on October 2, during the time of his X-ray appointment. Mumbai Police had launched a search operation in Mumbai and Pune to nab Patil.

So far, the police have arrested four major peddlers linked to this drug case. Recently, Bhushan Patil, Lalit Patil’s brother and an accomplice, was also arrested close to the Nepal border just a week before the main suspect's arrest.

Moreover, according to an official statement by police, the drug manufacturing unit linked to Patil in Nashik had been operational for approximately six months before the Pimpri Chinchwad police apprehended him and 20 other individuals in October 2020 during a significant Mephedrone drug seizure worth Rs 20 crore at Chakan.

The unit had the capacity to produce drugs ranging between 30 kg and 50 kg per day. Thereafter, the banned substance was being distributed and sold in various cities through Patil’s network.