noida the gang that cooked meth in a sophisticated lab they set up in a threestorey house in greater noida had sold over 220kg of drugs worth around rs 1000 crore in the past one year initial investigations have revealedpolice commissioner laxmi singh told toi the gang would send the new members to africa to get trained on how to combine various chemicals to produce mdma a party drug popularly known as ecstasyduring a raid on wednesday morning 46kg of mdma believed to be worth rs 200 crore in the international market was seized from the house in theta 2 seven youths who had come from africa on student visas were arrested from therethe gang was looking to expand its business they would send their members to africa to learn how to cook meth in a lab the training included procurement of chemicals storing them and then using specific combinations to produce drugs they were also taught to find clients via the darknet the police chief saidthe training appeared to have helped the gang as the meth that was seized was in its purest formthe entire manufacturing process involved a lot of steps not just the cooking of meth the storage of the chemicals and their composure are equally important they were well trained on how to look for clients without getting traced by the authorities we are trying to examine their recent travel details to find out the extent of the network and trace their associates we havent yet found any documents with them singh saidhow exhaustive was the manufacturing process they would cook ephedrine on a burner and extract the meth from a solution of acetone ethanol or methanol after the extraction the meth was frozen in a solution of methanolacetone they produced the purest form of meth the cp explainedthe police are also searching a few houses in south delhi where their associates are believed to be hidingwe are getting in touch with delhi police as we have stumbled upon the gangs links with foreigners staying in the capital they kept changing their base frequently so they were not traced easily a number of pharmacies are under our scanner because they might have supplied the chemicals to the accused the cp saidthe accused formed groups on apps such as telegram and viber to attract clients and take orders from themthe product would be sent abroad as well through cargo shipments from the western parts of the country for travelling locally they would use bikes to escape the attention of the police and other agencies the senior officer saidofficials with the narcotics control bureau in delhi explained that the methamphetamine mdma worked both as a stimulant and a hallucinogen it is categorised as a schedule 1 substance by the us drug enforcement administrationthe chemical structure of mdma is similar to that of amphetamine and its laboratory preparation involves a specific recipe in social parlance the drug is referred to as molly ecstasy or xtc due to its property