Man arrested for buying drugs using app, dark web

The city’s airport customs officers on Sunday arrested a 28-year-old man from Chembur who had placed an order for drugs through a mobile messaging app and paid for

The city’s airport customs officers on Sunday arrested a 28-year-old man from Chembur who had placed an order for drugs through a mobile messaging app and paid for them through the dark web using cryptocurrency. Officers seized the drugs from a courier parcel and booked the man under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

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Investigators suspect the incident could be part of a larger drug syndicate wherein drugs are ordered via mobile messaging apps that provide anonymity.

The arrested accused, Nemish Mahesh Kamath, told custom officers that he had placed an order for the drugs out of curiosity and is not a regular user.

On November 26, customs officers at the courier cell, airport special commissionerate, examined a parcel and seized 117 grams of a plant product, purported to be a banned drug under the NDPS Act. An investigation was launched to probe the suspicious imported parcel. Kamath was subsequently arrested on Sunday morning and remanded in judicial custody.

According to customs officers, during questioning, Kamath told interrogators that he got in touch with a man on the messaging app who informed him about the synthetic drug. Officers suspect this drug is a ‘synthetic weed (marijuana)’ which cannot be detected in blood tests.

However, Kamath was scared of getting caught and ordered the drugs in the name of his neighbour. “The accused knew his neighbour has an unoccupied flat, and made a duplicate key. However, after tracing the neighbour, we learnt someone had used his name. Through technical investigation, we zeroed in on Kamath and arrested him,” a police officer said.