Mumbai Police arrests two college students, three others for smuggling LSD from US and paying via bitcoins

Mumbai: Five people, including two students from a reputable college in Mumbai, were detained for smuggling and trafficking the psychedelic drug LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) worth Rs 70 lakh on Wednesday.

Two students - Arbaz Khan and Chirag Jain - along with Farhan Khan, a real estate agent, Admiya Modi, an associate TV producer, and Laxman Rajan, a computer engineer, were booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.  

"They were also under the influence of LSD,'' an official told The Times of India.

The smuggling was conducted via courier service from the US. LSD being a colorless and odorless substance, usually consumed in the form of stamps, is difficult to detect during scanning.

The payments were made through Bitcoins, a form of virtual currency which is not authorized by the RBI and any transaction in it is a direct breach of anti-money laundering provisions.

After receiving a tip-off on the suspects, police inspector Sunil Mane of the anti-narcotics cell laid a trap in Malad to arrest them. The subsequent bust resulted in the recovery of 1,400 blots of LSD worth Rs 70 lakh.

"Our team had received information that this gang has been actively involved in smuggling and supplying LSD or party drugs to several others including celebrities," Mane told TOI. Police claimed that the accused have provided clues on their supplier in the US.