The grip of drugs

For the Anti-Narcotics Cell of the Mumbai Police, 2018 ended with the seizure of 100 kilogramme of Fentanyl, a potent synthetic and fatal opioid, worth Rs 1,000 crore. The drug was being transported to Mexico via air cargo from the city’s international airport. While on one hand, the police are investigating the money trail involved in this drug haul, the focus also remains on the use of darknet and its far-reaching effects in trading drugs across countries.

Apart from the recent seizure of Fentanyl, the ANC sleuths said that the year witnessed other big and small drug seizures, mostly being traded within the city and involving less than the set commercial quantity.

With technological advancements, suppliers use smarter ways to trade drugs within the city. Selling narcotics outside schools and colleges is now passe. Some of the recent arrests have brought startling facts to the surface. Law enforcement agencies are trying to understand the use of mobile phone applications and darknet in drug peddling. Orders for narcotics are often placed through WhatsApp calls as these internet calls cannot be intercepted, sources from the police said. According to the police, suppliers are aware of the profitability that darknet can provide them with.

“The calculation is pretty simple. If there is demand for a certain thing, there has to be supply for it too. Peddlers have smartly mended their ways for the sake of business after realising the changing trends; they have adjusted market setups accordingly. Previously, drugs used to be traded in open markets as there was no fear of law. But now, intensified police actions have reduced their trading boundaries to outside government schools and colleges. Young students and teenagers give drug peddlers a vantage point to trade their stuff as children are gullible and do not need much effort to be persuaded,” an ANC officer said on the condition of anonymity.

Drugs are supplied according to the demands of locals. The market for local drugs like ganja, charas, cocaine, heroine and mephedrone is wider. Other international drugs are only consumed by the upper middle class and can barely be tracked.

The city police have also identified quite a few soft spots that witness nominal, marginal and significant activities by drug peddlers. “Parts of South Mumbai have more prominent places when it comes to drug peddling. Such areas are also inhabited by people from other nationalities, who work quite actively to set up their markets. A few soft spots in the western and northern parts of the city also witness active drug smuggling,” the ANC officer added. Speaking about party drugs, especially LSD and MDMA, another ANC officer said that they are traded through darknet.

Bostik sniffing in Malwani

Another trend that has emerged in the Malwani area is the smelling of Bostik. Bostik is an adhesive and a sealant that is used in industries. Bostik is accompanied by thinner which is used to dilute oil-based paints. These two things have a complex organic chemical composition that relaxes the mind when smelt. The liquids are easily available at hardware stores. They come in small bottles and teenagers constantly sniff the smell by applying them on a handkerchief or a long piece of rope.

The locals of Malwani alleged that the police and the administration have not taken concrete steps to curb drug trading in the locality.

“Majority of the area has slums. Peddlers supply drugs near government schools. Also, illegal hookah parlours serve flavoured hookah that comes with other intoxicants. Children and youth are getting addicted to cough syrups and are stealing money to buy drugs. Mobile thefts and house breaking incidents are related to the menace of drugs,” founder of a Malwani based non-governmental organisation Janhit Vichar Foundation Abdul Chaudhary said.
“Famous historsy-sheeters like Raju Plaster and Salim Tempo are trying to flood the area with drugs but, even the police are not taking measures to stop them,” Chaudhary said.

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Fifty-three-year-old Iqbal Patel’s son Irfaan (23), is back home from a rehabilitation centre. “My son was down with all sorts of addiction at the age of 13. Every time he returned home from the rehab, he sniffed thinners and Bolstik. If we tried to stop him, he became violent. If I would not have been forceful with him, I would have lost him a long time back. I have spent my life to drag him out of that phase and even now, I urge the Malwani Police to wake up and save other children and teens who are into drug abuse.”

An administrative staff of the Holy Angel High School in Malwani on the condition of anonymity said, “The world of drugs and crime has a one-way entry. If you get involved once, it is very hard to get out of it. We are seriously concerned about the situation in the area. We don’t know how drugs are circulated in Malwani but, we know that if appropriate steps are not taken at the earliest, we might be headed to a sad state of affairs.”

On the other hand the Malwani Police have said that a total of 47 cases have been registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. “In Malwani, the prominent drugs consumed are ecstasy, nitro 10 — a medicine used by cardiac patients, marijuana, charas and jaradh. Peddlers bring drugs concealed in the tyres of vehicles or inside an ambulance. Women too trade drugs in the area. We are seizing considerable amounts of drugs and are also apprehending the accused in such cases. Young children and teens fall prey to drugs because of curiosity, peer pressure, personal and family problems, anxiety and depression,” a police officer from the Malwani Police Station said.

The ANC that operates in five units namely Azad Maidan, Worli, Bandra, Ghatkopar and Kandivali said that it had rescued close to 150 youth from the clutches of drugs in 2017.

“We focus on breaking the supply chain of the operational drugs syndicate across the city and once the chain breaks, there will neither be any demand nor any supply. We have seized drugs worth Rs 10.5 crore and have arrested a total 130 people for the same. The ANC registers cases under the NDPS and not the Indian Penal Code and therefore, all arrested have been booked under relevant sections and are facing legal trials. We expect to take more vigilant action in the future with regard to drugs,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, Anti-Narcotics, Shivdeep Lande said.

IN THE WEEDS

After the state government banned hookah parlours in the city, the youth have gotten more inclined to the consumption of weed. As per recent observations made by the police, peddlers are now adding different flavours to weed. They are also claiming that the drug is a herbal product without any side effects. In the last week of November 2018, a 27-year-old autorickshaw driver, Raj Bhagvansingh Thakur, was arrested by the ANC from Parel, for allegedly possessing 1.88 kg of mango weed worth Rs 2.50 lakh. His interrogation led to the arrest of a 39-year-old Tanaji Kate on December 19, for supplying mango weed, a hybrid variant of marijuana. The drugs were sourced from Andhra Pradesh, the police claimed. While taking cognizance of the same, the Anti-Narcotics Cell sleuths have seized about 1,060 kilogramme of weed and have arrested 168 people in 2018. The new flavours available in weed are orange, pineapple, mint, chocolate. They take after the widely available flavours of hookah. Weed being easily available and cheaper than other drugs is consumed at a wider and more significant scale in the city.

WILD WILD MANGO

Mango weed or Mango Marijuana is an invention of bio-technology in which two seeds are mixed for flavours. It was already there in foreign countries. There are at least 18 operators in the city, who supply these flavoured variants of weed to college students. Arrest of a Dombivali-based supplier revealed that students use this drug for parties and it is being sold anywhere between Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per gramme,” an ANC officer said. “An accused, who was instrumental in peddling Mango Weed, said that the peddlers now prefer mobile phone applications and darknet to reach consumers. He informed us about a mobile phone application which comes with an auto-delete option for photographs. This means that once the photograph is shared with a customer via this platform, it gets deleted automatically after a few minutes of having been posted. It is a trend which we are unable to penetrate,” DCP, ANC, Shivdeep Lande said.

CLASSIFICATION OF DRUGS

• Depressants: Alcohol, Tranquilizers,Sedatives and Hypnotics
• Narcotic Analgesic: Opium, Heroin, Brown Sugar, Morphine, Codeine
• Cannabis: Weed, Hash, Charas and Bhang
• Stimulants: Cocaine
• Inhalants: Thinner, Glue and Petrol
• IV Usage: Phenergan and Fortwin
• Not Classified: Cough Syrup

TYPES OF PARTY DRUGS

LSD, Amphetamine, Methamphetamine, Methaqualone, Altrazolam and MDMA