Meth lab bust in Greater Noida: Over 30 cops to face department inquiry
The police flagged the negligence of the two police stations under who jurisdiction these houses are located, where the meth labs were busted.
Following the discovery of a second meth lab, being operated out of a house in Greater Noida on Tuesday, the Gautam Budh Nagar police chief on Wednesday said the personnel at the two police stations, under whose jurisdiction the two labs were located, will face a department inquiry for their alleged intelligence failure and negligence.
On May 16, the police uncovered a laboratory manufacturing methamphetamine or meth, a chemical drug, which was running from a three-storey house in Theta-2, Greater Noida, and arrested 10 foreigners.
Acting on information gathered during the interrogation of the arrested foreigners, on Tuesday, the police uncovered another lab, which was being run from a two-storey house in Omega-1, Greater Noida, about 8km from the first one.
According to police chief Laxmi Singh, the rent agreement for the Theta-2 residence was signed on January 1, 2022, and that for the Omega-1 residence was signed on August 1, 2021.
“These factories have been running in Greater Noida for over two and a half years and this points to the negligence of the two police stations under who jurisdiction these houses are located. All personnel at the Surajpur and Beta-2 stations, deputed there between January 2021 and December 2022, from the station officer to police post in-charge and beat constable will face department inquiry,” said Singh.
At least 30 personnel have been deputed at these two stations during the stated period, including eight different station officers, said senior police officers.
The commissioner said the department inquiry will be supervised by IPS officer Shakti Avasthy, additional deputy commissioner of police, Noida.
“Apart from that, it was the duty of the beat officers of the Foreigners Regional Registration Offices (FRRO) to carry out verification of foreigners living in the area and ensure no criminal activities are being carried out. Hence, they will also face department inquiry. If any personnel is found guilty of negligence, they will face a vigilance inquiry,” said Singh.
She added that the visas of the arrested suspects had expired and they were staying in India illegally.
“Four passports have been recovered from the house in Omega-1 on Tuesday, of which three belong to the arrested suspects while one belongs to man, presumed to be their associate. This is being verified. It has been found that they had came to India sometime in 2019 on a business visa which expired after three months. After that, they continued to stay in India illegally,” she said.
The police will initiate a 10-day drive for verification of all foreigners living in Gautam Budh Nagar, “in order to check their visa status and verify whether they are in the country for the purpose mentioned in their visas”, said the police commissioner.
“The drive will be carried out till June 10 in all zones of the commissionerate, including Noida, Central Noida and Greater Noida. Addresses of all foreign nationals will be verified and it will be checked whether they are here on business visa, and what business they are engaged in. If they are in the country on student visa, then details of the college or university are they enrolled in will be collected,” said Singh.
Police said unlike the earlier meth lab, which was being run from an isolated sector in Greater Noida, the second such lab was located in a well populated sector, in an upscale locality, barely a kilometre away from the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway.
According to Devender Nagar, chairman of the Mitra Enclave Residents’ Welfare Association, there are 217 houses in the sector of which around 60 are occupied by families.
“The residents of the sector had several times objected to the stay of foreigners in the area as they used to fight with security guards and it was suspected that they were involved in illegal activities. However, the flat owner never paid heed to our complaints. The foreigners have been staying there since 2019 and the flat owner told us that they are enrolled in a private university in Greater Noida,” said Nagar.
