Cases of drug peddling in Bengaluru have more than doubled since last year. Drug smugglers are now using couriers. Last week, police confiscated a courier consignment that reached the airport from Canada. “This is the first time we have seized drugs worth Rs 1 crore coming in through a courier. This is the newest form of drug peddling, with the payment being made using bitcoins,” says a senior officer with the Central Crime Branch.
He says such consignments are addressed directly to the consumer or picked up by middlemen at the airport. “The parcel contained hash oil or cannabis oil that is usually used in electronic cigarettes. It also had packets of hydro ganja, which is cultivated underwater,” he says.
The packet also contained chocolates, with its main ingredient being cannabis. “We suspect this is sold around schools, colleges and places where youngsters are susceptible,” he says.
Kuldeep Kumar R Jain, DCP (Crime), told Metrolife drugs are also smuggled in from Goa, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. “In a few areas around Visakhapatnam, bordering Odisha, ganja is grown. It gets sent to cities in other states,” says Jain.
In Bengaluru, some peddlers are involved full-time in buying and selling drugs. “While Indians are mostly found carrying large quantities of ganja, foreigners are involved in supplying synthetic drugs such as Cocaine, MDM and tablets with mixed drugs,” says Jain.
Students are a big part of the crime rings in Bengaluru. Many stay in hostels and are away from the watchful eye of their parents, an official says.
The Narcotics Control Bureau says drug peddlers are active mostly in the northern and central parts of the city. They are between 25 and 50 years, mostly single or divorced, and not so affluent. A senior officer with Narcotics Intelligence says, “Drugs are sold in small quantities of five to ten grams for anywhere between Rs 5,000 and
sometimes runs into lakhs.”
The main challenge for the police when it comes to tracking down peddlers is the location. “They frequently change locations before they zero in on a safe spot. So it is difficult to catch them red-handed,” says the official.
Most recent cases
Nigerian caught with 50 grams of cocaine worth Rs 5 lakh. His visa had expired.
On Magadi Road, 35 kg ganja seized, two arrested.
Two students from a college on Hosur Road and a software professional arrested for peddling 1 kg ganja, 24 strips of LSD and MDMA pills.
Narcotics Control Bureau intercepted two Indians at the airport, and seized drugs concealed in a quilt and two tiffin boxes. The contraraband was being taken to Doha (Qatar) on Oman Airways.
Drug peddling cases
2017- 354 (531 Indians and 103 foreigners)
2018- 286 (454 Indians and 44 foreigners)
2019- (till Nov)- 676 (1,011 Indians and 23 foreigners)
* Statistics for Bengaluru
Rampant here
Drug peddling is rampant in Bengaluru in Kammanahalli, Hennur, Banaswadi and Whitefield. In some areas of south Bengaluru, like Electronics City, Madiwala and BTM Layout, police have seized synthetic drugs like cocaine and MDM.