City yuppies take to Ketamine (party drug) smuggling

City yuppies take to Ketamine smuggling

high flyers | Unregulated courier agencies used as cover, party drug fetches Rs.10 lakh a kg

Mumbai: If it’s Ketamine, even the rich and the famous are game. In the last three years, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has cracked 16 narcotics cases, all involving the young, educated and the rich. “It’s greed for big money that’s luring them. We have been noticing this for a few years now,” a DRI officer said. One kilogram of Ketamine fetches Rs10 lakh, and when tonnes are involved, it can be a multibagger. In December 2013, when Powai resident Vikas Puri was arrested, the DRI seized 1.2 tonnes of the drug, worth over Rs118 crore in the international market. Puri is no typical peddler. A gold medalist from the premier UDCT institute of chemical technology, he used his educational background to illegally manufacture the drug in Jalgaon. DRI also arrested 13 others with Puri. Celebrity nutritionist-cum-gym-trainer Alishan Sharma was arrested from his Malad residence in February this year with 40kg of Ketamine and Rs80 lakh in cash. He used to export the banned substance to London. Sharma’s arrest gave one crucial lead to the agencies. Unregulated courier agencies, were the fulcrum of the business. There are 200 registered companies with the customs department. The licences of 12 suspended last year. In fact, it was the arrest of a courier boy that led the police to Sharma’s doorstep. Investigators found that Sharma was getting buying the stuff from Shanghai. “We have arrested three people in the case so far and are looking forward to more arrests, “ an officer said. Konduskar was arrested along with Sujal Patel, owner of Anshanu Exports, and his manager Babu Sharma. Konduskar, who hails from the family of Konduskar travels, was arrested in January 2012 with more than 1,000 kg of the party drug.