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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