The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has recently detained the kingpin of a drug ring, Azam Sheikh Jumman through whom drugs arrived in B-town. Azam Sheikh was to be produced in an NDPS court on Thursday. With this, 28 people have so far been arrested over the B-town drug case, which came out of the box after the suicide of SSR.

The agency had raided several locations at Milat Nagar in Lokhandwala based on the information given by Rigel Mahakala, who was arrested earlier this week. Rigel Mahakala was linked to Anuj Keshwani who in turn was linked to Kaizan Ibrahi. All three of them are in jail now. In its biggest seizure so far, the NCB recovered five kilograms of Malana cream valued around Rs 2.5 crore, ecstasy tablets, a certain amount of opium, and Rs 14 lakh in cash. This shows to what extent the problem of drugs has spread in the B-town.

This detention of  Azam Sheikh Jumman becomes an important turn in India’s role in the monitoring of the drug networks in South Asia. Sheikh had been the main supplier of drugs linked to this case, the NCB has said. He apparently sourced malana cream, the most desirable Charas in the world, from Himachal Pradesh. Malana cream grows only in Malana region of Himachal Pradesh and its cost ranges from Rs 40-50 lakh per kg in the international market, as revealed by NCB.

What is Malana Cream

The cannabis plant has a number of chemical compounds called cannabinoids, among which tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the primary psychoactive constituent that produces the high sensation. Strains of the plant with low levels of THC are used for industrial and non-drug purposes such as making ropes, paper, textiles, and others. Plants with a high level of another cannabinoid called CBD (cannabidiol) are used for medicinal purposes.

A high proportion of THC in the plant extract is required for recreational drug use and Malana Cream is believed to be particularly rich in THC, making it more potent. The resin extracted from the plant, generally by rubbing using hands, is also concentrated further to obtain the more potent hash oil.

In addition, charas from Malana has a distinct set of terpenes, aromatic compounds associated with flavour and other characteristics. These characteristics are the result of the unique climatic conditions of the valley.