CHENNAI: Drugs seized during ‘accidental’busting of a drug racket by city police last week are reported to have been sourced from Goa by the prime suspect through his contact. Perhaps this is also the first time Chennai police seized 25g cocaine and 70g charas from possession of a small time advertisement filmmaker. The kingpin is reportedly shifting bases between Goa, Puducherry and Chennai looking for potential couriers ready to risk for profitable cuts, after drug movement was curtailed by local and central agencies, including Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
“He has been catering to the city based ‘coke’ users. He is fluent in Tamil, and maintains his supply channel intact for ‘coke’ users. The arrested– Sivaraman only knew his acquaintance/supplier as Mohan of Chromepet”, said a senior police officer privy to investigation. Sivaraman reportedly told police he got acquainted with Mohan during a film shoot at Goa, and the latter promised him quick money for drug delivery. “We sell one gram of coke for Rs 3,000 and catered seven such wraps in the first lot received from Mohan. According to the demand in his unique clientele, Mohan would provide us with drop orders,” Sivaraman had said.
In the wee hours of April 8, Choolaimedu police intercepted a duo on suspicion. One of them was wearing a leather pouch around his neck in an unusual manner, and the other was holding a square container in the size of a palmtop.
Both blinked when asked as to what they were carrying and revealed they were trucked by their boss- Sivaraman, besides claiming innocence. One of them is pursuing animation from a private institute while the other is from Mumbai.
All three were arrested. The patrol party- SI K.Anbalagan, and constable Sundarrajan, that picked them up, were rewarded by police Commissioner T.K. Rajendran. The drugs would be analysed to ascertain their purity.
Drug usage spreading to techies, ITES employees:
Even as the seizure of coke re-attests the prevalence of drug usage and dependency among Chennaiites, police are not happy about the resurfacing of ‘coke’ in retail market. The usage trend that was earlier prevalent only in the upwardly mobile educated section, is slowly trending among techies and ITES employees. The clientele of the presently busted racket shows that the closely-knit user circle had increased with new additions. A senior city police official dismissed the seizure as an isolated case while another official had to differ.
“If one could rope in a total stranger to deal with the supply of ‘coke’, then we should understand the urge to reinstate the supply chain and as well as the demand for the product”, the official said. “The drug makes dramatic changes in the brain. It can cause memory loss, besides effectively hijacking the brain and making thinking about other things almost impossible”, the official pointed out.
On rave parties, the official said it would be almost impossible to crack on it since none in their circle would want to disclose details as it would definitely affect their next congregation. The city’s estimated active coke users are pegged at around 100 by NCB officials whose arithmetic is solely based on seizures tallied with clientele of arrested agents. A senior NCB official said there were at least 15 drug addicts who cannot do without coke, and they keep figuring in the clientele list of every other agent who surfaces in the city. “Last year, we picked up a significant number of foreign nationals acting as couriers which had dealt a severe blow to the international cartel’s attempt to establish its base”, Prem Anand Sinha, director, NCB Chennai, told DC.
