New Delhi, May 28 : With the arrest of two men, the Delhi Police's Special Cell on Tuesday claimed to have busted an illegal manufacturing unit of psychotropic substance 'Alprazolam' operating in Uttar Pradesh's Gajraula.

The accused were identified as Sanjay Kumar Sharma (42), a resident of district Bijnor and Rajvir a.k.a Rajiv Kumar (38), a resident of Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh.

The official said that Rajvir was a supplier of raw materials used for making Alprazolam.

According to the police, on April 25, the Special Cell busted an inter-state psychotropic substance supply cartel, arresting three individuals: Namit Chaudhary, Rachit and Vanga Rajendra Goud.

During the probe, it was revealed that the mastermind of this syndicate set up an illegal factory for manufacturing the psychotropic substance Alprazolam near Tapkeshwar Temple, in Village Salempur Gousai, Gajraula.

"A search of the factory, conducted in the presence of local police and officials from the Amroha drugs department, resulted in the recovery of a large number of raw materials used for manufacturing Alprazolam, totaling 1570 kg (1170 kg of salt and 400 litres of chemicals)," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Amit Kaushik.

The DCP said that this factory was operating illegally and was fully equipped for the production of Alprazolam.

The factory was seized, but the owner and the supplier of the raw materials were at large.

"During the investigation, the owner of the factory, identified as Sanjay, was arrested on May 14. He did not possess any licence from the drug department for the manufacturing of any medicine or Alprazolam," said the DCP.

Based on information provided by Sanjay, two mobile phones used to contact his associates and run the cartel were seized from his house.

"Subsequently, at his instance, raw material supplier Rajvir was arrested on May 18," the DCP added.

/IANS