Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

Narcotics sleuths probing illegal manufacture of ATS

By K.T. Sangameswaran

CHENNAI MAY 20. As authorities in the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) are continuing their probe in the case relating to the attempt to illegally manufacture Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS) in Kolkata, the financial stakes involved in the drug's sale appears to be staggering.

The cost of an ATS tablet, with two mg or five mg potency, ranges from Rs.700 to Rs.2,000 in the `market,' informed sources said.

Preliminary investigations revealed that one of the chemicals, ephedrine, used for the manufacture of ATS had emanated from a company whose head-office was at Hyderabad and which had a unit in Nellore at Andhra Pradesh. The source of the other chemicals required for manufacturing the substance was being probed.

The ATS tablet, manufactured from a synthesis of various chemicals, and which is closely related in its chemical structure to `ecstasy' group substances, is being sold under a variety of street names such as "pep pills, rippers, wake-ups, greenies, footballs, hearts, browns and amp," according to the Director of the bureau's south zonal unit, Shankar Jiwal.

Synthetic stimulants produce increased action in the central nervous system at common dose levels and they usually do not produce hallucination. Amphetamine is generally manufactured illegally. Persons who take in ATS have loss of appetite, faster breathing, increased heart rate and blood pressure, a rise in the body temperature and sweating.

Continuous use may result in the development of a state similar to paranoid psychosis.

Netherlands continued to be the biggest producer of ATS in the world.

However, in recent years China and South-East Asia had also started manufacturing the substance in a big way. The pills, which go by the name "rave drug" or "disco drug" attracted youngsters in their teens.In many cases, the drug abuse went unnoticed as the pills could be swallowed easily. Seizures of the substance, albeit in small quantities, were restricted to the northeast, Delhi and Mumbai in the last two or three years, the sources said.

The detection in Kolkata was the first time that a "fully-equipped laboratory" for the clandestine manufacture of the ATS of the deadly substance in the country had been made. The gang had international links and 10 persons were arrested in the United States in January this year followed by the nabbing of yet another person in China last week. Subsequently, five persons— three Myanmarese and two Chinese — were nabbed in Kolkata.

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