In what is being as the biggest drug haul in recent years, the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) sleuths of the Mumbai police seized Rs 1,000 crore worth banned Fentanyl and arrested four drug peddlers from Vile Parle (East) in north-west Mumbai.
Acting on a tip off about the delivery of Fentanyl, the ANS personnel seized 100 kgs of the recreational (party) drug and from a car parked near the service road at Shakti Nagar located in the vicinity of the Mumbai Airport at Vile Parle (East) on Wednesday.
Fentanyl is a potent narcotic analgesic, abuse of which leads to habituation or addiction. It is primarily a mu-opioid agonist. Fentanyl is also an opioid used as a pain medication and together with other medications for anaesthesia.
Fentanyl is also made illegally and used as a recreational drug, often mixed with heroin or cocaine to increase its euphoric effects. It is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. It is prescribed in the form of transdermal patches or lozenges.
Most recent cases of fentanyl-related harm, overdose, and death in the United States are linked to illegally made Fentanyl. It is sold through illegal drug markets for its heroin-like effect. There were as many as 20,000 Fetanyl over dose- related deaths in the United States in 2016.
“We have seized 100 kg of the banned Fentanyl. One kilogram of Fentanyl is worth around Rs 10 crore. In essence we have seized Rs 1,000 crore worth drugs,” Deputy Commissioner of Police and ANC chief Shivdeep Lande said.