Even as India’s commercial capital sweat hard to meet the challenges posed by the economic slowdown in the last one year, the one business that managed to buck the trend, and has on the contrary grown three–fold is that of illegal narcotics.
The market value of illegal drugs seized by the Mumbai police’s Anti–Narcotics Cell grew from Rs 1.58 crore from January to September last year to a staggering Rs 3.89 crore in the corresponding period this year.
The quantity of the drugs seized by the Anti–Narcotics Cell grew from 267.86 kg to 524.99 kg in the same period.
Small fraction
Worryingly, police sources say the seized drugs are only a small fraction of the actual sale of drugs in the city.
“The last one year has witnessed a rise in the number of foreign traffickers in the city. We have arrested 13 foreign nationals in drug–related cases in this year so far.
Eight of the arrested have been Nigerians, including women,” explained Paraskar.
New channels
“The Mafia is looking for new channels and new conduits to pump drugs into the city. Instances of people ingesting capsules carrying drugs, to be excreted later, have been uncovered,” explained a police source.
Psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty, who runs a drug rehabilitation centre, said that the easy availability of drugs in the city is the blame for the growing addiction.
“One can get drugs in every lane of Mumbai. In fact, there are lanes in Mumbai that are referred to as charsi gallis.
I have seen a 500–fold increase in use of charas, ganja and cocaine in particular in last few years. The seizures by the police are only a fraction of the quantity of drugs traded in Mumbai,” said Shetty.
Some youths were arrested for allegedly consuming drugs at a rave party in a city pub last year“Clearly, the manifold increase indicates that drug use has either increased in the city or the city has become a hub for the trade in narcotics.
We are working hard to arrest more traffickers who supply to bars in the city. Drug use can be brought down if we manage to cut off the supply,” Paraskar said.
- 604 Number of cases connected to sale of narcotics registered in Mumbai this year by the anti–narcotics cell
- 2,369 Number of people arrested in Mumbai on drug related charges this year by the anti–narcotics cell
- 412 Number of such cases registered by the by the anti–narcotics cell last year
- 2,092 Number of people arrested in Mumbai by the anti–narcotics cell on drug related charges last year
- 543 Number of drug–related cases registered by the Mumbai police this year
- 126 The weight of drugs seized by the Mumbai police in kg
- Rs 30.19 lakh Market value of drugs seized by the Mumbai police this year
- 529 Number of drug–related cases registered by the Mumbai police in 2008
- 1,518 kg The weight of drugs seized by the Mumbai police last year
On January 24: Shaji Mohan, a deputy director in Enforcement Directorate’s unit in Kochi, was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti–Terrorism Squad (ATS) for allegedly trying to sell heroin in suburban Oshiwara.
Mohan was nabbed with 12 kg heroin in a club when he allegedly came to collect money for his earlier heroin consignments.
The air intelligence unit of the Customs Department has registered 11 cases of Ketamine hydrochloride, valued at Rs 62.27 lakh and 14 cases of narcotics valued at Rs 66.73 crore so far in 2009
In July: the Anti–Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police raided a trader’s flat in Cuffe Parade and arrested 11 people, including four women, for alleged consumption of cocaine and hashish
In the second week of September, nine boys were caught smoking charas and ganja around 9.30 pm at Powai Plaza
On October 9: The Bandra unit of the ANC laid a trap at Kanjur village and arrested a Kishor Sawant with 8 kg of hashish that he had come to deliver to a client
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Source: Mid Day