MUMBAI, June 3 -- An interstate mephedrone (MD) manufacturing and trafficking network spanning Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana and Tamil Nadu has been busted. The police have arrested 18 persons and seized narcotics, precursor chemicals and equipment worth over Rs.50 crore. The breakthrough came after the arrest of a couple from Naya Nagar in Mira Road for allegedly peddling drugs. Their interrogation led investigators to a larger network involved in the production and distribution of MD across multiple states. Sandeep Doifode, deputy commissioner of police (crime branch, MBVV), said the arrests of peddlers from Byculla and Mira Road helped police trace a manufacturing and storage facility in Malwani. There, officers arrested a local resident and his associates and seized 255 litres of chemicals used in the production of MD. The seized material was valued at Rs.13.65 crore. Further investigation led police to Sandeep Viraswamy Naidu, who was arrested in Khalapur, Raigad district, on May 28. His interrogation led to the arrest of Nasir alias Baba Janimiya Shaikh and Mehmood Mehboob Khan in Hyderabad a day later. Acting on Nasir's information, an MBVV police team raided a two-acre farmhouse property and seized 3kg of MD. Officers also recovered 2,293 litres of precursor chemicals. Laboratory equipment used to manufacture the drug was also seized. The total value of the contraband and materials recovered from the Telangana unit was estimated at Rs.16 crore. Doifode said Nasir was arrested in Telangana in 2014 and came into contact with other inmates involved in the narcotics trade. Through those contacts, he obtained links to Chinese suppliers from whom he sourced chemicals required for manufacturing MD....