Saturday, December 29, 2007

Date rape drugs cause ripples.


The fear of date rape has reared its ugly head in Mumbai with a drug bust at the Mumbai airport. But it's not just drug cartels you need to watch out for, it's date rape drugs being sold for a song over the counter. NDTV finds out how easy it is to purchase this deadly chemical.

What better way to bring in the New Year than to say cheers! But beware, not every clink of the glass has an innocent ring. Lacing your cocktail could be deadly substances as date-rape drugs are causing ripples in Mumbai party circles.

And now, raising the alarm is a seizure of Ketamine hydrochloride. Nine kg of a chemical powder used to make date-rape drugs was seized at the Mumbai airport. It's the fourth seizure in two months and the enforcement agencies are worried.

Dilip Srirao, DCP, Anti Narcotics Cell said, ''What's more frightening is the easy availability of Ketamine, used to make injectible anaesthetics, a prescription drug not meant to be sold over the counter.''

Shockingly, NDTV found the anesthetic freely available. We merely walked into a South Mumbai medical store, asked for Ketamine and walked out with a bottle, no questions asked.

Taking matters to another level are the reports of at least four Mumbai-based pharmaceutical firms accused of faking invoices to import Ketamine in bulk.

A substance when converted into date-rape drugs fetches crores of rupees, drugs that go by the name Roffies and Liquid X.

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