India, June 30 -- Ever since the early sixties, Mumbai, with its easily available air, water and land transport, has served as a key transit point for narcotics smugglers. With the advent of synthetic drugs, this has gone a step further, with urban localities across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) quietly reinventing themselves into a manufacturing hub.

This is especially true of mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant also known by its street name, MD. Discreet MD manufacturing, which started in defunct factories in some chemical hubs, has now reached households in Nalasopara, a distant suburb that has grown into a sprawling network of clandestine manufacturing units. From tiny flats to secluded farmhouses and hidden chemical plants, pla...