The Narcotics Control Bureau has seized mass quantities of LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide – a synthetic chemical-based hallucinogenic drug – and busted a pan-India trafficking network that used cryptocurrency and was run via the ‘dark web’, news agency ANI reported Tuesday morning.
The NCB has called the seizure its ‘largest ever’.
The ‘dark web’ or ‘dark net’ refers to hidden corners of the internet used to sell drugs, guns and other illegal items, as well as exchange banned content and engage in other criminal activities.
Media reports indicate the NCB will hold a press conference at noon.
NCB’s ₹25,000 core haul in May
The NCB’s announcement today comes days after a joint operation with the Navy last month led to confiscation of drugs worth an eye watering ₹25,000 crore off the coast of Kerala.
The drug was methamphetamine and over 2,500 kg of the substance was found.
READ | 2,500kg drugs seized were packaged in Pakistan, says NCB
Officials told ANI the value of the haul was higher than normal because the drugs were of a higher grade; the seized drugs were found in one kg packets hidden across 134 sacks.
NCB Deputy Director General (Operations) Sanjay Kumar Singh told ANI the haul was the largest in money terms. He said the drugs were routed via Iran’s Chabahar Port and the source was Pakistan.
One person – a Pakistani national identified as Zubair Derakshshandeh – was arrested. According to a report by ANI the accused provided a voluntary confession claiming he was working for a Pakistan-based trafficker who promised him a large monetary reward for moving the drugs.
Seizure in April also
In April too the anti-drugs agency made a massive seizure, busting a multi-drug cartel in Goa in an operation that lasted for more than two weeks, .
Three people, including two Russian nationals, were arrested in that case and, apart from drugs, foreign currencies and fake IDs were also seized.
Cash worth more than ₹6.4 lakh, in Indian and other currencies, were found.
With input from agencies
