Narcotics Intelligence Bureau (NIB) CID on Saturday arrested two graduates who allegedly sold synthetic drugs to people coming to a bar at a hotel at Egmore. Sleuths said there was an increasing trend of youngsters selling drugs to meet the demand.
Deputy Superintendent of Police, Purushothaman of Chennai division, said, "We received an anonymous information that two men were selling drugs to the public at the hotel for the past three weekends. A team of three police officers in plainclothes visited the bar on the ground floor of the hotel. The two were moving near the entrance and were talking to people who had come to visit the bar". The officer said the duo targeted couples and girls. The team nabbed them and seized 10 Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) tablets and two LSD stamps worth Rs 1.50 lakh.
The officer said they had already sold some tablets and stamps. The accused were identified as B Raja Anand (27) and S Hariharan (28) from Injambakkam who were BCA graduates and working in a call centre at Tiruvanmiyur. Police said the drug peddling network was functioning through "dark websites", which has at least four-level password authentication and money was given through cryptocurrencies.
The drugs were mostly smuggled from foreign countries and locally dispatched by post by hiding the contraband inside the parcels. Since these synthetic and hallucinogenic drugs are very small in size, it often escapes surveillance.
Speaking about the new trend in synthetic drugs, a senior police officer said, "Youngsters mostly men, get addicted to synthetic drugs on college campuses. Now, it happens in schools also. After a while, the amount of consumption increases and they could not afford to spend for the drugs.
The sellers procure 10 to 20 tablets extra from the dealer and start selling them for a higher price. This way they can cover their own expenses on drugs. Similarly when it comes to girls, they end up being exploited by men." The sleuths had warned the hotel management to keep a vigil on people involved in selling drugs.
What are synthetic drugs?
Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) when taken gives high for around two hours and comes with side effects like brain damage. Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD, is an illegal drug that alters the senses and cause hallucination. One of the dangers is that LSD can trigger a long-term psychotic state or induce schizophrenia in susceptible individuals. These hallucination drugs can leave the person with mental instability, blurred vision and many other physical damages.