Lockdown triggers Ecstasy demand, more drugs seized

According to a noted Customs official, the spurt in demand for party drugs could be attributed to anxiety induced by a prolonged stay at home due to lockdown.

In Friday’s incident, the Air Customs was scanning the parcels when they came across two ‘suspicious’ packages from The Netherlands. One of them had a DVD cover inside it and on examination, a plastic pouch was found in which three zip lock packs containing 25 LSD stamps, 31 pink-coloured MDMA pills, and six grams of white crystal MDMA were concealed. The pink pills embossed with the Coca Cola logo contained around 200 mg of MDMA. The LSD stamps are commonly known as Bicycle Day and Hofmann, containing 33 micrograms of LSD.

The second package had 100 pink colour pills and eight grams of white crystal, both suspected to MDMA, concealed in it. Commonly known as DHL-LKW, the pills were in the shape of truck and contained 297 mg of MDMA. The Customs, in a release, said these are the strongest pills seized till date. A total of 131 MDMA pills, 14 grams of MDMA crystals and 25 LSD stamps valued at Rs 6 lakh were recovered and seized under the NDPS Act.

Since the packages were addressed to two different persons in Chennai, as a follow-up action, searches were carried out at the addresses. Two persons have been detained to ascertain their role in smuggling.

This is the first time Chennai Air Customs seized LSD (Lysergic acid diethylamide) stamps. LSD is an extremely potent hallucinogen and its recreational dosage averages between 25 to 80 micrograms (mcg). Generally, LSD soaked onto sheets of absorbent paper with colourful designs are cut into stamp-sized individual dosage units. MDMA crystal is a pure form of MDMA.