Despite 1,000-plus peddlers and a few kingpins being arrested in the past few years, the supply of synthetic drugs continues unabated. In the concluding report of this five-part series, mid-day sheds light on how incarcerated drug lords pull the strings behind bars, making it difficult for law enforcers to topple their empires.

The Pune police in February busted a mephedrone racket and arrested around 10 people, seizing around 1,800 kg of mephedrone (MD). As part of the crackdown, pharmaceutical plants and godowns were raided in Pune, Sangli and Delhi. The police learnt that the drugs had come from a factory at Kurkumbh MIDC.