Mumbai: Rise in sale of hash brownies after raid at Malad bakery: Accused

Mumbai: Rise in sale of hash brownies after raid at Malad bakery: Accused

Somendra SharmaUpdated: Wednesday, July 14, 2021, 11:44 PM IST
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A day after psychologist Rahmeen Charania was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for allegedly baking and selling brownies made of hashish, he revealed that ever since the raid was carried out at the Malad bakery last month, his business increased threefold. The NCB officials said that most of his customers were young women. The agency is also probing certain WhatsApp groups where such deals were being carried out.

“He used to prepare the brownies at home. He was known as Eddie among his clients. During questioning we learnt that Eddie was the code word used for Edible Brownie. Charania told us that in June when we had busted the racket, many placed orders for brownies laced with drugs. His clients used to pick up these brownies from his residence,” said zonal director of the NCB, Sameer Wankhede.

Meanwhile, the NCB has also arrested Ramzan Shaikh and seized 50gm of hashish from him at Crawford Market on Tuesday. Shaikh used to supply the drugs to Charania and other local peddlers, Wankhede said.

Charania, a psychologist who is also a consultant at a prominent hospital in south Mumbai, was arrested by the NCB on Monday. They had also seized 10 kg brownies made of hashish and 320 gm of opium, along with Rs 1.72 lakh in cash.


The NCB officials had claimed that Charania is involved in baking brownies and cakes with a mixture of weed/ hashish and opium. He used to supply these brownies to high-profile private parties in Mumbai and suburbs.


According to the NCB, hash brownies are made using hashish as an ingredient and consumed for its psychoactive effects. Ingesting cannabis and hashish is one of the most powerful ways to abuse cannabis-based drugs and products. Consumed thus, the effect lasts for at least six hours unlike when smoked, in which THC travels directly to the brain, bypassing the stomach, causing the effect of vaporisation and smoking to quickly subside. However, on being digested, THC has a more potent effect on receptors in the brain, which is why edible versions are more potent than just smoking the drug.

On June 12, in a clandestine operation, NCB officers had busted an alleged racket in the supply of brownies containing edible weed and marijuana, the sale and production of which is banned under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, after raiding a Malad bakery. A woman and two others, Elston Fernandes and Jagat Chaurasia, were arrested by the NCB in the said offence. The team seized a total of 830 grams edible weed or edible cannabis and 160 grams of marijuana from the outlet.

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