With Christmas and New Year celebrations around the corner, various drug enforcement agencies have strengthened vigilance and stepped up measures to curb sale and trafficking of drugs in the city and its outskirts.
While the Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police is focussing on online surveillance of rave parties and private get togethers, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), a central government agency, have identified several vulnerable entry and exit routes in the city and state which may be used for large-scale drug smuggling in the coming days.
The NCB has also alerted post offices and courier services as over 50% of the smuggling happens via couriers. That apart, the agency also held a high-level meeting in Goa with several other departments including health, police, customs, airlines and even party organisers to keep a check on the use of narcotics.
Sanjay Jha, zonal director of NCB, said, "There will be large-scale seizures based on the information we have received. We have identified new routes where transit will happen, which we cannot disclose at the moment. While we have tightened the noose around courier services to scan every parcel they receive, the postal services do not have any strict mechanism in place to check parcels. Only 10% of drugs are seized via delivery services and the rest go unchecked."
He added that besides couriers, cargo service is another focus area this festive season.
According to officials, transit of drugs via courier and post has become hard to crack as the identity of the sender is never known or is fake and the receivers wash their hands off about the identity or the source. "We have asked the courier officials to take snapshots of every sender and also keep CCTV cameras in place. Most often, the couriers are received from remote locations. It is such a clandestine operation that not even the receiver or sender is aware of the source. The challenge has always been to crack the chain and get to the bottom," added Jha.
While cocaine, amphetamine, ketamine and MDMA continue to be popular, the sale and consumption of mephedrone is expected to soar this season. Jha said, "The use of mephedrone (M-Cat), which has replaced other party drugs, is expected to be high this festive season. It is yet to be classified as an illegal drug under the NDPS Act. Therefore, it cannot be seized by any enforcement agency. It is cheaply and easily available and has become a rage among youngsters. Our efforts are on to bring it under the provisions of the NDPS act."
The NCB has also communicated with several airline authorities and the customs to keep tab on a database which the NCB has sent them. It includes some flourishing networks as well as areas from where the contraband will be coming from.
The ANC, on the other hand, has put in place a special online drug monitoring cell to keep a tab of rave parties and drug sale in the online forum. "Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter are being used by junkies to put up invitation about rave parties. They sent invites to a close-knit group. Although the operation is clandestine, once we are equipped in cracking these web pages, we can conduct raids and make arrests. This will help us in getting through a network of high-profile peddlers and consumers," said Namdeo Chavan, DCP of ANC.
The department has also started arresting mephedrone peddlers and consumers under section 328 of IPC (causing hurt by means of poison) on a large scale as there is no law under the NDPS to book them.
The ANC is also putting up special squads near colleges and schools. "Cocaine and party drugs such as ecstasy are widely used at these parties. The challenge is that they are very cautious and keep changing the locations. As far as sale is concerned, we are aware of peddlers who operate online. All such activities will be monitored," added an ANC officer. The NCB is working closely with the ANC, the local police and the customs department.
Cases by ANC & police 2014 (till November 25)
* 220 cases of possession
* 283 arrested in possession cases
* 11,165 cases of consumption
* 14,576 people arrested in consumption cases
* 11,385 cases in all
* 14,859 accused in all
* 666kg drugs seized
2013 (till November 25)
* 113 cases of possession
* 145 arrested in possession cases
* 987 cases of consumption
* 3,511 arrested in consumption cases
* 384kg drugs seized
Seizures in 2014
Drug Cases Arrests
Heroin 43 50
Charas 24 28
Cocaine 33 37
Ganja 92 119
Amphetamine 17 24
Ephedrine 4 5
Opium 2 7
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