The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has broken a mobile mephedrone production lab in Maharashtra’s Satara district. Officials seized drugs worth ₹55 crore and arrested five people. The operation, named 'Sahyadri Checkmate,' was carried out on January 23, 2026, in a remote village in Karad tehsil. The lab was hidden inside a poultry farm and moved frequently to avoid detection. Authorities found 11.848 kg of liquid mephedrone, 9.326 kg of semi-liquid, 738 grams crystalline form, and 71.5 kg of raw material to make another 15 kg, totaling about ₹55 crore in value. Mephedrone is a synthetic stimulant known as a party drug that carries serious health risks. Three suspects caught on site include the manufacturer, the financer, and the poultry farm owner. The first batch of drugs was hidden at the farm owner’s house. Later, two more suspects were arrested while collecting the final product near an old octroi toll naka in a dense forest. Of the five accused, four have prior arrests under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act or prosecution under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). This is the second drug lab raid in Satara district in two months. Last month, the Mumbai Crime Branch busted a secret drug lab in Jawali.