New Delhi, March 8 – The Narcotics Control Bureau seized 2,338 LSD blotters and busted a drug trafficking network that had been operating on darknet platforms and the encrypted messaging application, Session, since January 2022, an official said on Sunday.
During the operation, NCB officers seized 2,338 LSD blotters, 160 MDMA (Ecstasy) pills weighing 77.517 grams, 73.612 grams of charas, 3.642 grams of amphetamine, and 3.6 kg of liquid MDMA from 13 domestically intercepted parcels and 2 parcels originating from the Netherlands linked to the network, the official said in a statement.
The seizure highlights the increasing use of darknet marketplaces and encrypted communication platforms by drug traffickers to distribute narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, it said.
"This operation represents a significant crackdown on darknet-based narcotics trafficking networks operating in India," said the NCB in a statement.
Earlier, the NCB had secured the conviction of a drug trafficker in a 2022 case involving heroin smuggling across the Indo-Pak border at Jalalabad, Punjab.
A Special NDPS Court, Fazilka, sentenced Vakeel Singh, a resident of Dhandi Qadim, Fazilka, to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
The case pertains to the seizure of 1.790 kg of heroin by BSF in September 2022 while foiling a smuggling attempt across the border.
The NCB later took over the case and found that the contraband, supplied by a Pakistani national, was recovered by the convict from across the border fence and concealed in two cold drink bottles inside the tractor’s bumper.
The NCB recently also busted an international drug trafficking network linking Nepal, India, and Sri Lanka, with the arrest of five accused and the seizure of 77.60 kg of Hashish Oil and 2 kg of Charas valued at nearly Rs 10 crore.
Acting on credible intelligence regarding the movement of narcotic drugs across multiple states, officers of the NCB Hyderabad Zonal Unit intercepted a Tata Safari Storme car on March 3 near the Raikal Toll Plaza on the Bengaluru-Hyderabad Highway in Telangana.
During the search of the vehicle, 2 kg of Charas was recovered, concealed in specially fabricated cavities. Two persons, one a Delhi resident and the other a Uttar Pradesh resident, were apprehended in connection with the transportation of the contraband, said an NCB statement.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the recovered Charas, along with other consignments of about 78 kg of Hashish Oil, was trafficked into India from Kathmandu, Nepal, through the Sonauli Indo-Nepal Border. Consignments of about 78 kg of Hashish Oil were already delivered by the arrested persons at Thoothukudi for onward trafficking to Sri Lanka via sea route, it said.
