CHENNAI: Greater Chennai Police’s newly-formed Anti-Narcotics Intelligence Unit (ANIU) has broken the back of the synthetic drug trade in the city by conducting comprehensive probes covering even the financial trail and identified the presence of around 38 networks with links to African dealers in Bengaluru and New Delhi and possible international kingpins.
Official data shows that from August till December 4, the ANIU has seized around 1.8 kg of methamphetamine, 139 LSD stamps, 263 Ecstasy tablets and arrested 228 accused, including 11 foreigners and six Indians from other states. The ANIU has booked 40 cases pertaining to synthetic drugs in the last four months; the number was around 10 in 2024 till August, sources said.
Among the arrested are at least four policemen, two of whom were posted in the union government’s NCB. The synthetic drug trade has four layers of which the ANIU has made significant headway into three and uncovered 38 networks of peddlers and suppliers, of which five are interconnected.
Different modus operandi like supply of meth through dating app Grindr which resulted in the arrest of a policeman, supply through delivery apps like Porter and Swiggy, concealment beneath the zip of a jeans pant and sale in small rolled up plastic packets have also been uncovered by the unit, officials said.
Once an accused is arrested with possession of meth or LSD, investigators systematically collect digital evidence and bank account data to find out the forward (buyers) and backward (supplier) linkages of the drug trade, the officials added. For instance, the arrest of a peddler in a case led to 20 other people who had bought from him. Suppliers based in Bengaluru and other parts of India were also identified in a similar manner.
“Every week, one officer travels to Bengaluru or New Delhi to make an arrest,” an official said. The investigation has helped the unit prepare a comprehensive database of synthetic drug supply networks of the city enabling better surveillance, an official added. A senior official said the intense crackdown has impacted availability of synthetic drugs in the city, pushing up the cost of meth from `4,500 a gm to `8,000 a gm.
Officials are conducting financial investigations covering the money trail in this drug trade and preparing to confiscate movable and immovable properties which are proceeds of crime.
The ANIU has also begun to detain the foreigners in a special camp in Tiruchy under Section 3(2)( E ) of the Foreigners Act to ensure that they don’t abscond during the course of the investigation and trial.
