NCB thwarts trance party in Tiruvannamalai, russian couple held

CHENNAI: Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) sleuths thwarted a trance party to be held in Tiruvannamalai by arresting a Russian couple and seized psychedelic substances from the duo.

The couple in their 40s have been in India since 2022 after arriving on business visa separately and have organised the trance parties known as ayahuasca retreat ceremonies in Rishikesh, Manali, Goa in the last two years, said P Aravindhan, NCB director for Chennai Zone.

They were planning to conduct a party here in Tiruvannamalai from June 15 to 17, but we arrested them before hand based on information, said the official.

NCB had seized substances like as amanita muscaria (fly agaric), ayahuasca (concoction made of herbs from Amazon), kambo (frog poison) and psilocybin (magic mushrooms) from the two.

Ayahuasca retreat ceremonies are popular in South America where it is promoted as a medicinal andspiritual event where participants go on a trance as ayahuasca has a natural hallucinogen known as DMT.

NCB said that the couple sourced the substances from Belarus and other countries through couriers and have organised the retreats in India.

According to the NCB officials the couple have sent links to enrol for the retreats through Telegram and charged a fee equivalent to 1500 US dollars for a two-day retreat, " said the NCB director.

In the event usually held in private resorts, the participants will be administered the substances by way of sniffing and rubbing on the porous skin.

In total, 239 grams of potentially fatal substances were seized from the couple, said NCB.

NCB has not named the couple as the agency is expecting more suspects in the case.