Women a big part of drug rings

A 23-year-old woman from Manipur was recently caught with heroin worth Rs 3 lakh. Identified as Wichamthonliu Abonmai, she was arrested from Banaswadi in Bengaluru.

Officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau say many women drug peddlers are actively, mostly in the northern and central parts of the city.

The women are between 25 and 50 years, mostly single or divorced, and not so affluent. “They are introduced to the business by a friend or relative. They then remain in it because of the lure of money or other compulsions. They deal mostly in ganja,” says Sunil Kumar Sinha, zonal director, Narcotics Control Bureau, Bengaluru.

The women also sell psychedelic drugs like MDMA and LSD, but the volumes are lower. “The drug carriers are mostly labourers or students because they are easy to lure. In the case of foreigners and students, the mastermind first befriends them on social media and chats with them. This goes on till they get familiar with each other. The ring then lures them in with free trips abroad, gifts and financial help for members of their family,” says another officer. The women bring in the drugs into Bengaluru from Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and mostly travel by bus.

“In the most recent case, we caught a Nigerian woman who had concealed small quantities of drugs in her private parts. In some cases they swallow the drugs and retrieve them from the faeces,” an officer says.

It is not easy to nab women who conceal drugs inside the body.

“To scan them we need X-ray machines. You cannot use these on every passenger. Innocent people and pregnant women can be harmed if screening is made mandatory,” says the officer.

How they do it

Help a student
A Nigerian woman drug trafficker befriended an Indian student and offered her free trips abroad. She won the girl’s confidence by actually buying her tickets and sending her on jaunts. The peddler then began using the student as a drug carrier. The girl was asked to bring in books from Dubai to Bengaluru. The cardboard covers of each book had cocaine sachets sandwiched between the layers. More than 500 gm of cocaine, estimated to cost Rs 2.5 crore was confiscated.

Be well turned-out
Small quantities of drugs were concealed in the makeup kit of a woman travelling from the United Kingdom to Bengaluru.The 50-year-old woman who was to deliver the makeup kit to her daughter, married to a Nigerian and living in Goa. This group regularly sells drugs in Bengaluru.

Pretend to be family
Drugs are stacked in the rear boot of luxury cars. Women dress up conservatively and sit in the front to trick the police into believing a family is travelling.

Hide it in cosmetics
A Nigerian woman was found at the Bengaluru airport with drugs concealed in the cover of a Lux soap and dipped in body lotion.

Surprise raids

The city police say they conduct regular raids to catch drug peddlers.
“We frequently raid basements of malls, apartment complexes and public buildings on the basis of tip-offs. We have conducted five such raids in the last five months. We found drugs during three of them,” he says.

Peddlers sexually abused

The peddlers have their own problems. They become addicted themselves. Under the influence of drugs, they are willing to do anything. They experience sudden highs and believe they have extraordinary stamina. This feeling is often misused. The women are sometimes sexually abused, a senior policeman says.