India busts dark web-based LSD drug cartel

NEW DELHI, June 6 (Xinhua) -- India's Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) Tuesday said it has busted a pan-India drugs cartel operating through the dark web and using cryptocurrency as a mode of payment.

The NCB said it seized over 15,000 blots of LSD drugs, or lysergic acid diethylamide and arrested six people associated with the network.

"We have arrested six persons in two cases and seized around 15,000 blots of LSD drugs, which is 2,500 times the commercial quantity," said Gyaneshwar Singh, the NCB's deputy director general.

The LSD, a synthetic chemical based-drug, is categorized as a hallucinogen.

"It is a very dangerous synthetic drug," said Singh. "From our records, it is the biggest ever seizure in the past two decades."

Singh said this huge network spreading across Poland, the Netherlands, and the United States was supplying drugs in India using social media sites to contact customers and then using courier services to deliver the drugs.