The Mumbai Police on Thursday seized more than 700 kilograms of the mephedrone drug from a manufacturing unit at Nalasopara in Palghar district of Maharashtra, PTI reported. The police also arrested five persons for making the drug.

The main accused is a post-graduate in organic chemistry, who got the formula of producing mephedrone through experiments, said Datta Nalawade, the deputy commissioner of police (Anti-Narcotics Cell), at a press conference.

“The raid was carried out based on specific inputs, which the Anti-Narcotics Cell’s Worli team had received after the arrest of a drug peddler from Govandi, a suburb in Mumbai, in March this year,” Nalwade said. “The ANC team recovered 701.740 kg mephedrone valued at Rs 1,403 crore from the accused. This is one of the biggest drug hauls by the city police in recent times.”

While interrogating the drug peddler, the police came to know about more persons involved in the business. Of the five accused persons, four were arrested in Mumbai, while one was held in Nalasopara.

Mephedrone is a stimulant drug, which means it speeds up the messages traveling between the brain and the body, according to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation. It falls under the category of new psychoactive substances, or NPS, a range of drugs that have been designed to produce effects similar to those of established illicit drugs. In common parlance, the drug is called MD or “meow meow”.

The police said they were investigating the supply chain and financial trails involved in the manfucaturing of the drug, PTI reported.

The main accused person used social media platforms and calling apps for drug peddling and supply, Nalawade said. “Wholesalers in the drug trade used to contact him for mephedrone and he was not selling the banned substance less than 25 kg in quantity,” he added.