A pharmaceutical science professor at a university in Shikoku was referred to prosecutors Tuesday for allegedly instructing his students to produce the synthetic drug MDMA without a permit, the university said Tuesday, in an echo of hit TV series “Breaking Bad.”

Tatsunori Iwamura, 61, a professor at the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Matsuyama University in Ehime Prefecture, admitted to the allegation, telling investigators that he did it in order to help his students’ “learning.” He also acknowledged that he knew it was illegal.

According to the university, Iwamura instructed an associate professor and two then-students to produce MDMA in class between 2011 and 2013, despite him not being licensed to produce the drug for academic purposes.

Then, between 2016 and 2017, Iwamura directed the associate professor and two other people, who were also students at the time, to also produce the drug, which the professor took into his possession.

The regional drug enforcement authority sent investigative papers on Iwamura to prosecutors, as well as on the assistant professor and four former students who were involved in the production of MDMA under his instruction.

The MDMA they produced has not been found, but a trace of another drug was discovered in his laboratory, according to the sources.

MDMA is often a constituent ingredient in the recreational drug commonly known as ecstasy and molly.