What is Black Cocaine? The easy to smuggle drug posing a challenge for NCB

Chemicals such as activated carbon are added to the drug to neutralise the smell of cocaine and camouflage it into the typical appearance of charcoal. This helps the drug bypass colour-based drug tests and drug-sniffing dogs as activated carbon absorbs trace odours.

Black cocaine is often disguised as asphalt, printer toner, charcoal, or fertiliser to make it easier to smuggle.

It is said that Black Cocaine was invented in the mid-1980s by the army of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The dictator allegedly ordered the establishment of a clandestine cocaine laboratory in Chile to produce a drug which could not be detected by law enforcement agencies and be smuggled into the United States and Europe.

However, it was in 2008 that black cocaine was first discovered by the police in Spain as per the Indian Express report.

The drug was manufactured into rubber-like sheets and made into luggage to fool the enforcement agencies.

Recently, in 2021, a major consignment of black cocaine weighing about 860 kg was also seized in Spain and in 2022 a consignment weighing 3.2 kg was seized at the Mumbai Airport.

As per the Express report, the entry points for Black Cocaine into India include Goa and Mumbai. From here the drug is then transported to other regions of the country and is used by at least 10.7 lakh people.

The major sources of Black Cocaine are the South American countries where coca plants from which cocaine is made, are popularly grown. They are also the major suppliers of cocaine to India.

Since both cocaine and black cocaine are one of the most expensive narcotics, they are mostly consumed by the upper classes of society.