Chennai: 1 in 3 arrested for synthetic drugs peddling aged below 25

CHENNAI: About 33 per cent of the accused arrested in the last 10 months by the Chennai police's Anti-Narcotics Intelligence Unit (ANIU) for peddling synthetic drugs are youth aged below 25 years.

According to the city police data, between August 2024 and July 7 this year, they have arrested 534 people for being part of networks peddling synthetic drugs, of whom 178 are youngsters aged between 20 and 25 years. Among them, 33 are college students, police said.

Last October, the city police had busted a home lab in Kodungaiyur, where, seemingly inspired by the popular series ‘Breaking Bad’, four engineering students, aided by another pursuing masters’ degree in chemistry, set up a makeshift laboratory to ‘cook’ methamphetamine, a highly addictive synthetic narcotic stimulant popular among the youth under various names like crystal meth, ice, glass, speed, etc.

"Easy money is one of the reasons why college students take up meth peddling. From our investigations, we have learnt that the networks peddling ganja and meth do not overlap," a senior police officer said.

Addressing the media on Saturday, city police Commissioner A Arun said his teams have busted 84 synthetic drug networks and have arrested accused from the length and breadth of the country, including 25 foreign nationals, who were operating as kingpins.

"Distribution of synthetic drugs in bars and pubs has come down due to police action. Nowadays, it is mostly through party circles, which we will be cracking down on," the Commissioner said.

Referring to the arrests of actors Srikanth and Krishna, the Commissioner said that it was the pub brawl incident in Nungambakkam, which led to the untangling of a drug peddling network. Probing the leads and inputs, the police have arrested 27 persons, including a Ghana national, John.