Students in TN buy key chemical compounds to make methamphetamine in own 'lab,' arrested

Chennai: A postgraduate student in chemistry and four engineering students, with the help of two others, came together to manufacture methamphetamine and market it and they were arrested before they could succeed in their attempt, police said on Thursday.

While they tried to make the drug in a makeshift 'lab,' set up in the residence of one of the seven students here, they made their parents believe that they were involved in academic research as part of their studies.

They procured the main chemical compounds that go into the making of methamphetamine under the guise of academic research and had managed to raise about Rs 3 lakh for the purpose of procurement and related activities.

Based on a tip-off, narcotics intelligence sleuths arrested the seven men which includes five students aged between 21 and 23 besides two others and one of them was 38-year old. Also, about 250 gram of methamphetamine, mobile phones, a weighing scale and lab equipment were seized.

The incident comes close on the heels of a police case over alleged involvement of some students in drug peddling and consumption at Potheri in the city outskirts.