Exclusive | Operation LSD: Cops party hard to bust drug ring

A massive drug ring across Navi Mumbai and Raigad was busted by the Navi Mumbai Crime Branchrsquos AntiNarcotic Cell ANC with the police seizing around 114 LSDdosed blotter papers worth Rs 228 lakhThe alleged kingpin 22yearold Adarsh Subramanian used Snapchat and other platforms to supply the psychedelic drugs to students To crack the case cops kept an eye on college events in plain clothesOn February 29 midday brought to light the first major arrest in the case where a vegetable vendor was nabbed for being a major link in the drug cartel that caters to college studentsThe arrested accused in the custody of the Navi Mumbai Crime Branchrsquos antinarcotic cell on March 30The vegetable vendor Panvelbased Sanjay Kutale 23 was arrested in the last week of February as first reported by midday He was allegedly supplying dosed blotter paper to students attending events and parties He told the authorities that he had received the paper from a 24yearold engineering student Lalit Sunil Pawar who along with otheres would supply LSD to engineering studentsAccording to the police the LSD was manufactured in Russia but was probably obtained from Amsterdam Forensic experts will determine its quality The blotter papers which were brought from Goa are believed to be of poor quality It was made by Nigerian nationals1 In the first week of Feb 2024 a college student from Navi Mumbai approached officials of the Crime Branchrsquos antinarcotic cell ANC informing them about the increasing usage of LSD lysergic acid diethylamide among students at parties According to the student some would trip for two or more days after consuming the drug2 On receiving the information Police Inspector Neeraj Chaudhary informed his superior Deputy Commissioner of Police Amit Kale After getting the latterrsquos approval for a crackdown he formed a team The team members were entrusted with various tasks such as gathering information about the network3 The team of officers in plain clothes started looking into the drug supply network in Navi Mumbai They also started attending events in colleges and parties A watch was kept on all bashes organised by college students across Navi Mumbai and other remote areas4 In the last week of Feb the team arrested Sanjay Kutale a vegetable vendor from Panvel who was supplying dosed blotter paper to students attending events and parties According to the team he got the paper from a Panvelbased engineering student Lalit Pawar 24 who would supply LSD to engineering students across Navi Mumbai and Raigad5 On interrogating Pawar officials uncovered a huge network in Navi Mumbai and Panvel mostly comprising students of different colleges Apparently not only engineering students but also those pursuing fine arts management studies and MBA degrees were also part of the supply chain6 ANC officials arrested four students who were selling drugs They are Himanshu Prajapati 19 Vijay Shirke 23 Sidesh Chavan 25 and Adarsh Subramanian 22 The last is said to be the kingpin ldquoAfter Adarshrsquos arrest the Navi Mumbai supply chain was busted and further investigations were startedrdquo an officer said The police seized around 114 blotter papers worth Rs 2280 lakh7 It was difficult for the police to bust the network as the alleged suppliers were not using mobile devices Adarsh was using Snapchat and other social media platforms to supply LSD and while he was delivering the drugs he would change his location three to four times 8 The ANC team are now looking at busting the interstate LSD supply chain After the arrest of Adarsh it was learnt that he was getting the psychedelic drugs from Goa and Karnataka Sources said the blotter paper brought from Goa was of inferior quality and made by Nigerian nationals who are in the supply chain The original LSD dots are from Amsterdam and manufactured by Russians ldquoWe will send the drugs for forensic analysis to ascertain their qualityrdquo said a police officer IllustrationsUday Mohite