NCB sleuths seize 20 LSD stamps in city

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested a man with 20 lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) stamps (blots) in Royapettah in the early hours of Tuesday even as the New Year celebrations were being wrapped up across the city. Sources in the bureau said that the use of LSD as party drug was increasing in the city, adding thatthey were available forRs 2,000 a stamp.

LSD stamp is a party drug, which is placed on the tongue and gives a euphoric high to the user. The police said that the accused was trying to create a steady business by ferrying the narcotics stamps from Goa and sold them for Rs 2,000 a stamp.

“We have seized Rs 40,000 worth LSD stamps that was found hidden inside a mobile phone,” an NCB officer said, adding that the agency was trying to locate others linked to his business. The seizure was effected by one of the surveillance teams that the NCB had deployed in certain parts of the city to track high-end drug peddlers, sources said.

The man used to travel to Goa regularly to buy the drugs and sold them to his regular clients in the city. He used to purchase it for Rs 1,000 a stamp and sell it in Chennai for double the rate, NCB sources noted, adding that the use of LSD as party drug was increasing in the city. “As they are stamp-shaped, it is easy to transport and very difficult to detect,” an officer added. The sale value of the stamp depends on the demand – the price can go up to Rs 5,000 a stamp.

LSD stamps are also easy to courier as books from abroad, hiding the drug inside without getting noticed. It is difficult to browse through all book parcels arriving to the city from abroad, the officer said.

While the bureau had seized 32 squares of LSD in 2017, it had not made any seizures in the whole of 2018. However, last January, the Narcotic Intelligence Bureau (NIB) of the Tamil Nadu Police had arrested four students of different colleges in Chennai and outskirts and seized 16 stamps from them.