Drug that cheats tests returns to Mumbaiafter adecade
STREET MAYHEM Named Kamli after its inventor, the brown sugar subverts clinical tests required to bring the contraband under the list of banned drugs and book its peddlers
Kamli — an adulterated form of brown sugar marketed decades ago by a woman after whom it was named — has returned to Mumbai’s streets after a lengthy hiatus.
What has the city’s drug enforcement agencies worried is the drug’s molecular formulation, which subverts clinical tests required to bring the contraband under the list of banned drugs and book its peddlers.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Shivdeep Lande said the police were on alert and the crackdown against narcotics would continue.
Topsourcesintheantinarcotics cell (ANC) said the locally improvised contraband was thought to have disappeared from the market a decade ago, following Kamli’s forced sabbatical on account of poor health. She died a few years ago.
However, recent seizures have led ANC sleuths to suspect that the samedrugisbeingcirculated once again.
Little is known about Kamli’s personal life. Her foray into the narcotics trade came at a time when the D Company facilitated the inflow of synthetic opioids from Pakistan and south-east Asia into the city in the 1980s.
The deadly drug — mostly brown sugar — was called ‘smack’ or ‘skag’ and peddled in the streets. Its customers? Celebrities and children from across socio-economic strata.
At that point of time, Kamli, a migrant who had settled in Tardeo slums, held sway over the drug trade in south Mumbai through a trusted network of peddlers. It was said that the marketforherdrugwasthedark alleys of Ballard Estate.
After the 1993 serial blasts, the police initiated an all-out crackdown on the drug syndicate. After a few run-ins with the law, Kamli shut shop temporarily as the supply chain had dried up.
Taking advantage of the lack
OF RSS LEADER
of drugs available in the market, Kamliresumedoperationsinthe late 1990s as the prices of contraband soared. By this time, she had found a way to bypass the law — through a chemical spray that altered the molecular composition of the drug while retaining its effectiveness.
She began peddling Kamli, which became an instant hit among the poor and lower middle-class as it cost a fraction of what pure heroin did, said sources. Its composition also meant that users and peddlers could get away when arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
Old ANC records suggest that Kamli’s men were caught ped- dling the drug several times. However, the police had to let them ago after forensic tests to detect it as brown sugar returned as “negative”.
Now, ANC sources suspect that a new cartel has resumed the production of Kamli using the old modus operandi.
Cartels procure high-grade heroin at a street price of ~2.5 crore per kilogramme (kg). Then, harmless additives such as baking soda or monosodium glutamate is added to increase the quantity and bring down the retail cost.
Forevery kilogramme of pure heroin, 4kg of additives are added, and then sold to small distributors at ~1 crore per kg.
Retailers convert the adulterated drugintoKamlibyspraying it with a certain chemical. Sources said they suspect the operation is carried out at rented flats ontheoutskirtsofNaviMumbai.
While a pouch containing 1g Kamli is sold at Rs250 to Rs300 on the street, puredrugsofthesame volume cost around Rs5,000.
Noted anti-drug campaigner Dr Yusuf Merchant said it was difficult to alter the molecular composition of the drug by adding another chemical to it. “I am unaware of this particular drug. It is possible that another method could have been used to alter it,” he said.
MUMBAI: