The Tamil Nadu Police arrested seven students, including recent graduates in engineering and a postgraduate chemistry student, for allegedly running a methamphetamine laboratory in Chennai's Kodugaiyur area. The tip-off to the Anti-Drug Intelligence Unit (ADIU) was made on Wednesday.
Among the arrested are four graduates of robotics engineering and one MSc chemistry student. The parents of the students told police they were conducting academic research when they were arrested. But investigations showed the group was making methamphetamine in a room in their house that had been designated as such. Authorities also seized about 250 grams of meth, along with test tubes, pipettes, and raw chemicals stored in glass jars, authorities said.
The suspects have been identified as Fleming Francis (21), Naveen (22), Pravin Pranav (21), Kishore (21), Gnanapandian (22), Arunkumar (22) and Dhanush (23). Gnanapandian has formal training in chemistry, but the other students, according to reports, sourced chemicals and lab apparatus from pharmaceutical companies and online vendors. Police believe this group could be part of a wider criminal network dealing in drugs.
The ADIU is looking into how far their operations went and if other people are implicated. 'We are looking into how long they've been running this operation,' a police spokesperson said. The investigation comes at a time when there are growing concerns over the proliferation of synthetic drugs in the city, and law enforcement will need to step up their efforts against such illicit activities.
This incident should serve as a warning to academic institutions about the overlap between academia and illicit drug production and the importance of vigilance in educational institutions when it comes to student activities. Further developments are expected as authorities probe possible links to wider drug trafficking networks.
