During the festival season in December 2022, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) seized more than 3 kg of black cocaine valued at Rs 13 crore. Black cocaine, like many other designer drugs, are in demand in the market.
Apart from black cocaine, some of the new high valued drugs such as Hydro Ganja, Ecstasy, Cocaine, Imported Ganja and designer drugs such as black cocaine, pink cocaine, among others, are expected to be in demand in the upcoming years.
These designer drugs have their chemical component changed from the original form, so that they are not detected by the scanners and dogs at airports and seaports.
“Because these drugs are expensive and only sold by a larger cartel, some of the high-end and tech savvy drug suppliers and mafias have now resorted to selling the drugs on dark net,” said Datta Nalawade, DCP, Mumbai Police.
Most of the designer drugs are often sold on these platforms because it is difficult for agencies to track them and get details of monetary transactions or purchases made through the dark net.
Among the designer drugs sold internationally, black cocaine has made its way to India.
Black cocaine is made by mixing cocaine with coal, cobalt, activated carbon and iron salt and a special chemical is added to mask its smell.
A new strategy has been designed by cocaine cartel to make inroads into India. The black cocaine cartel is being run by women, so that they don’t get caught. The code word used for transactions related to black cocaine is ‘sanitary napkin’.
In fact, the NCB busted a big cartel related to black cocaine in Goa during the Christmas season, and has now added two dogs to their team to ensure that such packets can be detected.
Value of black cocaine in the Indian market is anywhere close to Rs 28,000-Rs 30,000 per gm. They are usually in demand in Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, and smuggled from South Africa and Latin America.
Peddlers opt for new modus operandi to smuggle these drugs because, lately, all the central as well as state agencies have been keeping a close watch over smuggling networks, leading to bigger cartels being busted.
Which is why, experts are of the opinion that such designer drugs are the new trend in drugs and they help evade authorities. Some of these designer drugs have been around in other countries such as the US for more than a decade now, but India is only adapting to it lately.
Another challenge faced by the agencies would be the source through which these drugs are smuggled, and drug transactions, which usually take place through peddlers and closed Instagram groups and darknet.
“Apart from Instagram groups and dark net, now peddlers are using groups made on platforms such as Wickrme and Telegram to reach out to their clients,” said Nalawade.
Officials apart from tracking peddlers have to now expertise in information technology and also track social media platforms and dark net.
Suppliers are paid in bitcoin on these platforms, and it is as easy as purchasing any product on an online selling site.
Ideally, the traditional method for are monetary transactions for drugs is through Hawala transactions, hand to hand cash transactions, Bank account — payment getaways in rare cases, and more lately through cryptocurrency or dark net. It is the Big cartels and tech savvy drug providers, amounting to 1% of the total dealings in the entire market, who have now switched to crypto transactions and dark net to make their way into India.
Read all the Latest India News here
Comments
0 comment