Instagram a Drug Marketplace in Maharashtra, says Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai: Social media platform Instagram is found to be used as a mode to sell drugs in Maharashtra. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday informed the Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad that Instagram has become a marketplace where orders for narcotics are being placed.

“Instagram has emerged as the drug marketplace where orders are being placed, payments are made through GPay and UPI and deliveries are being done through the courier companies,” Fadnavis said in the state legislative council.

Drugs were also being sold through the dark net (an encrypted part of the Internet that is not accessible through search engines), he added.

We have warned courier companies that this is their responsibility. The courier companies have been appealed to scrutinise parcels and surprise checks equipped with modern technology were being conducted at courier offices to curb the drug trade, Fadnavis said.

The home minister also promised stern action against those involved in the Lalit Patil drug kingpin case.

Patil, who was wanted in a multi-crore mephedrone seizure case, had escaped from the Sassoon General Hospital in Pune on October 2 when he was taken for an X-ray. He was apprehended in Bengaluru on October 17, more than two weeks after his escape. As many as 13 people, including a medical officer of the Sassoon General Hospital, have been arrested in the case so far.

Fadnavis also said the government has initiated action against 172 Nigerians involved in drug-related offenses and a detention centre has been established for them in such offences.

The deputy CM further said 2,369 suspicious ‘paan’ shops located in the vicinity of schools and colleges in Mumbai have been removed. The government has also seized 38,000 e-cigarettes and crackdown on hookah parlours is underway, he said.