Opium Trail Traced to AF.: TS-NAB Chief

 Hyderabad: Sandeep Shandilya, TS-Anti-Narcotics Bureau chief, told Deccan Chronicle that the bureau was sharing intelligence on drug smuggling with agencies across the borders to identify main drugs foreign suppliers, even as it emerged that much of the opium seized in the city was from Afghanistan.

 “When we tested the opium seized in the city, we found that its quality matched with a neighbouring country where opium is cultivated on a largescale and supplied all over the world,” another officer said.

In another new step, the TS-NAB will begin their investigations to trace the drug network from the consumer level.

“Once we get the consumer we can get to the main supplier. Even if the supplier is in another country we will identify the person and alert the country's intelligence services,” he said.

The TS-NAB used to earlier focus on curbing peddling. “As the demand for drugs has multiplied, and the number of consumers and suppliers have increased, we need to break the supplier chain,” a bureau officer said.

The TS-NAB has recently purchased over 100 drug detector test kits and distributed them in the trial commissionerates. The hand-held device, being used for the first time, needs a saliva swab or a urine sample and can detect the presence of drugs within eight minutes.

The device identifies any drug and the amount of narcotic in the body, an officer said. It can detect ganja, cocaine, opium, heroin, MDMA, ecstacy, brown sugar and LSD.

“We have sent teams to AP, Odisha and other states to arrest the main ganja suppliers and cultivators,” Shandilya said.