Mumbai's Drug Peddlers Are Offering Free 'Love Sips' Of Cocaine To Lure In New Addicts!

Mephedrone or meow-meow is now outdated. In a bid to lure youngsters, particularly college students, drug peddlers are distributing free 'love sips' or 'love drops' (slang for small cocaine sachets), which resemble toffees, in South Mumbai.

Representational Image

The new modus operandi was uncovered with the arrest of two Nigerians on Saturday, by the anti-narcotic cell of Azad Maidan police.They were caught with 115 gm of cocaine and 60 gm of mephedrone worth Rs 8 lakh. But what surprised the cops was the seizure of several sachets, which were wrapped to resemble toffees. "Apart from 110 gm of cocaine, we recovered several small sachets of the drug, called `love drops' or `love sip' by addicts and peddlers, from the accused Nanso Daniel Nazekve (26). Just 5 gm of cocaine was cleverly wrapped in several individual polyethene wraps which look like chocolates," said inspector Santosh Bhalerao, senior inspector of Azad Maidan's anti-narcotic cell.

Each sachet, which contains 0.05 gm, contained cocaine in its purest form. During interrogations, Nazekve said these were samples which were freely distributed to newcomers to get them addicted to cocaine. Police say once he is hooked on to the drug, an addict goes to any extent to procure the drug, even stealing money from home to buy it.While there have been cocaine hauls in the past, police said it was only recently that such `free samples' were recovered.

TOI/Representational Image

Shivdeep Lande, deputy commissioner of police, anti narcotic cell, said the cell's Azad Maidan unit alone has arrested 14 Nigerian nationals this year, all of them with some quantity of this `love sip', which is a new mechanism to get youths hooked. The addiction is so quick and the drug is such a rage among college-going youths that the Nigerians drug peddlers don't have to go to sell the drugs but youngsters come to Wadibunder in search of them. "Most of the dealing takes place early in the morning when it is still slightly dark. Last year, when the crime branch carried out massive raids at Wadibunder, the gang made an easy escape by jumping across the railway tracks and even pelted stones at policemen. Two policemen were injured in the raid," said an officer.

Reuters/Representational Image

Police said they knew a few boys who drop in to buy drugs from the peddlers but didn't want to take any action against them as they fear the boys may take an extreme step if their addiction is revealed to their families.