NCB makes India's 'largest-ever' LSD seizure, arrests six in darknet-based drugs trafficking bust

The Narcotics Control Bureau NCB on Tuesday said it has made the largestever single operation seizure of about 15000 LSD blots in the country with the arrest of six people as it busted an international drugs trafficking network operating on the darknetThe seizure as per officials is estimated to be worth over Rs 10 crore in the international market about Rs 5K7K per blot and all the six who have been taken into custody beginning late last month are students and youngsters who wanted to make easy money by remaining anonymous within the deep layers of secret internetbased apps and messenger service like WICKRUnion Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the federal antinarcotics agency on the achievement saying it reflected great coordination between cyber vigilance and human intelligence and this was in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modis vision of a drugfree IndiaLSD or lysergic acid diethylamide is a synthetic chemical baseddrug and is categorised as a hallucinogen It is trafficked by painting it on blots half the size of a stamp paper and is consumed by licking or swallowingThis is the largestever seizure of LSD blots in the country in a single operation Six youngsters have been arrested till now and we are on the trail of one more such cartel NCB deputy director general northern region Gyaneshwar Singh told reporters hereThose arrested are in the age group of 2528 years the officials saidShah said the success was a result of a great coordination between cyber vigilance and human intelligenceas the darknet and cryptocurrencies were used to trade these drugsAlso readThief returns stolen gold worth Rs 32 lakh after police appeal in Maharashtras PalgharDue to intensified vigilance and improved coordination drug seizures have exponentially increased in India in the last few years the home minister said on TwitterA total of 14961 blots were seized as part of the about twoweek long operation and the blots are of gammagoblin and holy spirit of asura brand Singh saidThe deputy DG further said that till now the highest seizure of LSD was 5000 blots by the Karnataka Police during the entire span of 2021 and about a similar amount of blots by the Kolkata NCB in 2022 in a single operationLSD abuse is largely prevalent among youngsters and it can lead to serious health issues Singh saidAccording to the officials LSD is known as acid in illegal drugs parlance and is odourless colourless and tasteless and the user loses the sense of space distance and time affecting their judgement and behaviour severelyPossession of 01 gram of LSD about six blots which is the commercial quantity for the hallucinogenic drug invites strict legal action under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances NDPS Act leading to denial of bail and rigorous imprisonment in jail for the person who trades or consumes it an NCB officer saidNCBs deputy DG Singh said the latest seizure of about 15000 LSD blots is 2500 times of the commercial quantityHe said the LSD seized by them was sourced from Poland and the Netherlands and this syndicate was trafficking it across various states by taking payments through cryptocurrency and UPI and the contraband was shipped through couriers and postal networksThe NCB the officials said is trying to freeze the crypto funds tooThe suppliers and consumers intercepted by us had no personal interaction and every contact was on the darknet Singh saidHe said the operation was undertaken by a special team of the Delhi zonal unit of the agency after they patrolled the darknet for many hoursDarknet refers to the deep hidden internet platform that is used for narcotics sale exchange of pornographic content and other illegal activities by using the secret alleys of the onion router ToR to stay away from the surveillance of law enforcement agenciesApart from the LSD blots 232 kgs of ganja and Rs 465 lakh cash have been seized while bank deposits worth Rs 20 lakh have been frozen the deputy DG saidNCB zonal director Delhi Gyanendra Kumar Singh said those arrested are mostly educated and are youngOne is a student who is from Goa but enrolled at a private university in Noida another is a Delhi boy who was trying to send some of these blots to Kashmir and a girl who has been arrested from the NCR the zonal director saidA supplier based in Jaipur and a man from Kerala have also been arrested he saidA similar darknetbased drugs trafficking racket was unearthed by the agency in 2021 leading to the arrest of 40 personsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever