The Kolkata Police on Tuesday arrested three people and recovered sugar cubes laced with LSD, in what officials said was the first ever seizure of “LSD cubes” in the city. An LSD cube can be sold for Rs 7,000 to Rs 8,000, said police. Advertising The narcotics department had received a tip-off about a drug deal in Kasba, following which officials reached the spot and arrested Srijit Banerjee (22), Aritra Das (22). Explained ‘New to Kolkata’: LSD, WhatsApp and the dark web Police say Kolkata has only recently witnessed a spurt in chemical drug seizures. Until a few years ago, the drugs confiscated from students were mostly cheaper ones like charas and ganja. One of the main obstacles investigators face is tracking those involved in this racket, because the primary mode of purchase for substances like LSD and cocaine is the dark web, and the medium of communication with dealers is WhatsApp. “Encryption makes it extremely difficult to trace a message to its original source,” said a police officer. After interrogating them, Sambhu Mukherjee (24) was arrested from Jodhpur Garden area. During the operation, police seized 5 gm LSD liquid, two sugar cubes and 82 gm hash valued at Rs 4 lakh overall. “This is the first time LSD cubes have been seized in Kolkata. It is tough to catch these drugs since they look like normal sugar cubes, but coated with LSD liquid,” said Joint CP (crime) Praveen Tripathi. These drugs are sourced from states such as Haryana, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh and are usually used by students, said sources. Srijit is a student at a hotel management institute in Delhi, Aritra is an engineering student in Uluberia and Sambhu runs a guest house in Himachal Pradesh. Advertising The narcotics cell of Kolkata Police and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have seized several consignments of chemical drugs in the last few years. In June 2018, Kolkata Police had arrested three students and seized a large amount of LSD, MDA and other synthetic drugs.

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