The Anti Narcotics Cell of the Pune police arrested three persons in two separate cases and seized from them several tablets of the psychedelic drug mescaline and the synthetic stimulant mephedrone, also known as Meow Meow, in powder form.
In the first case, a team from the Anti Narcotics Cell of the Crime Branch of Pune police received an input that some people were selling drugs in the Budhwar Peth area of Pune. A trap was laid late on Wednesday night and the police detained a suspect identified as Jahidul Motehar Malik alias Akash Mandal (24), a resident of the red light area in Budhwar Peth.
Upon searching him, the police recovered a packet containing 38 tablets of mescaline weighing 38 gram, priced around Rs 76,000 in the illegal market. Malik was subsequently arrested.
Mescaline is a psychedelic drug extracted from specific varieties of cactus, mainly the Peyote Cactus and has hallucinogenic effects on a person. “Our investigation suggests that this drug is smuggled into India via the states along the borders of Bangladesh and through the northeastern states. We have launched a probe into his narcotics supply network,” said an officer from the Anti Narcotics Cell.
In a separate drug bust conducted near the entry gate of the Pune railway station, a team from the Anti Narcotics Cell intercepted two persons riding on a motorcycle in the early hours of Thursday. “Two persons riding a bike were detained on the road between gate numbers two and three of the railway station. We seized 10 gram of Mephedrone worth Rs two lakh in the illicit market. The two suspects were subsequently arrested. The suspects had procured the narcotic from Mumbai,” said an officer from the cell.
The arrested were identified as Al-Fahad Wazir Sayyed (27) a resident of Pune Camp and Shahrukh Babu Shaikh (29), a resident of Kondhwa.
Mephedrone, also known as Meow Meow or White Magic, is a synthetically manufactured stimulant of the amphetamine and cathinone category. Till early 2010s, the drug was not included in the list of contrabands under the NDPS Act. But multiple seizures of large quantities and rising instances of its consumption in big cities, prompted the authorities to include it in the list in 2015.