A clandestine racket involving supply of brownies, which contained edible weed and marijuana, the sale and production of which is banned under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, has been unearthed in a raid on a Malad bakery.
The officials of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) have also arrested three persons, including a woman, who were engaged in baking and supplying these brownies/cakes – each containing a minimum of ten grams of contraband.
The team seized a total 830 grams edible weed or edible cannabis and 160 grams of marijuana from the outlet. This gives a new dimension to the clandestine trade in weed and marijuana mixed with consumables. This is the first instance of edible weed being used a baking ingredient.
"The accused would mix a minimum of ten grams of contraband in each brownie, which would fetch a price ranging from Rs 400 to Rs 1000 and cater to a high-class clientele. The accused had opened an account on a social networking site/application and were accepting orders through Direct Messaging (DM)," said an NCB source.
Speaking about the case, the Zonal Director of the Mumbai Unit of NCB, Sameer Wankhede, said, they had launched the search late on Saturday night based on intelligence input.
"The NCB unit seized 10 brownie cakes weighing 830 grams during the operation at Orlem. A woman named Elston Fernandes has been arrested and her questioning led us to the main supplier in the case, namely, Jagat Chaurasia, at Bandra," said an NCB official.
"Edible weed pot brownie is a food product (either homemade or produced commercially) that contains cannabis extract as an active ingredient. Edible weed pots are a way of consuming cannabis. Cannabis edibles may affect people for a longer period, than if it is smoked. One may not be able to distinguish between regular baked goods and those containing cannabinoids which tend to have a slightly green tinge and often emit a faint cannabis smell," Wankhede said.
