Police sound warning bells as sale and use of narcotics in Mumbai shoot up three-fold in just one year.
Police sound warning bells as sale and use of narcotics in Mumbai shoot up three-fold in just one year.
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.
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Of the various types of drugs seized, charas topped the list. While the ANC seized 80.14 kg valued at Rs 51.48 lakh this year, the seizures grew four-fold to 351.46 kg valued at Rs 2.85 crore this year.
"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.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Anti-Narcotic Cell, Sunil Paraskar said that while arrested drug peddlers were mostly in their early 30s to 40s, the clientele comprised citizens of all ages.
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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.
604Number of cases connected to sale of narcotics registered in Mumbai this year by the u00a0anti-narcotics cell
2,369Number of people arrested in Mumbai on drug related charges this year by the anti-narcotics cell
412Number of such cases registered by the by the anti-narcotics cell last year
2,092Number of people arrested in Mumbai by the anti-narcotics u00a0cell on drug related chargesu00a0 last yearu00a0
543Number of drug-related cases registered by the Mumbai police this year
126The weight of drugs seized by the Mumbai police in kg
Rs 30.19 lakhMarket value of drugs seized by the Mumbai police this year
529Number of drug-related cases registered by the Mumbai police in 2008
1,518 kgThe weight of drugs seized by the Mumbai police last year
Major Drug Hauls in 2009On 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.u00a0
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 u00a0Rs 66.73 crore so far in 2009u00a0
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 hashishu00a0
In the second week of September, nine boys were caught smoking charas and ganja around 9.30 pm at Powai Plazau00a0
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 u00a0that he had come to deliver to a client
