Peddlars speed post party drugs

The Suffola Functional Foods and MTR Idli Mix are the new favourites of drug peddlers.  They use packets of these products to stuff banned narcotic drugs and ferry them to various places; interestingly enough, they have been making use of the postal department for their routes.   

The Bandra unit of Anti Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police recently nabbed two people, one of them a post office peon, for allegedly transporting Ketamine in the packets of food products through Speed Post.  

According to the police, Hussain Bilal Telwal, 42, and Deepak Chamanlal Bagdi ,33, who were taken into custody under section 4(A) of the CrPC were supplying Ketamine not only to Delhi and Mumbai but also to a few European countries. The ANC sleuths recovered 32kg of the substance worth Rs6.40 lakh from the duo.

“The suspects have been operating with the same modus operandi for the past 6-8 months and this seizure is just the tip of the iceberg. We have information that they could have supplied more than a 1,000kg of banned substances,” said Sunil Paraskar, deputy commissioner of police, ANC.

The duo was arrested from their residence at the PNT Colony in Sahar Road, Andheri (East). “We had information about the accused being at the residence of Bagdi, who is a peon in a South Mumbai post office. They were caught red handed transferring Ketamine powder into Suffola packets. We found 16 such boxes stuffed with Suffola packets,” Paraskar said. 

However, there is still a bit of doubt about the substance being stuffed in the packets. “We suspect it to be cocaine but its taste and smell indicate that it could either be methaquauone, or most probably, Ketamine. We have sent the samples for test to avoid any confusion,” Paraskar added.  

“Both of them are out of bail but the court had ordered them to report to the Bandra unit every day for three months to facilitate our investigation.”   

The police always find it difficult to deal with Ketamine related cases because it is not included as a Scheduled (H) drug under the NDPS Act. Ketamine is used in making party drug, more popularly known as date rape drug.  

However, law enforcement agencies in the state as well as the Centre are in the process of listing Ketamine under the NDPS Act.

Police officials feel this would help bring down smuggling cases of Ketamine. Of late, several people, including foreigners have been arrested in connection with either smuggling Ketamine or manufacturing it illegally. Many youngsters too have been caught using Ketamine as a recreational or party drug.

Ketamine, an officer said, is used in several South-East Asian countries to make party drugs.