Spelling an anti-climax to the largest narcotics raid in Goa's history, Italian national Vincenzo Rainone arrested in February 2015 with Rs nine crore worth drugs has been discharged after it came to light that the seized hallucinogen is not listed in the schedule of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.
PANAJI
Italian national Vincenzo Rainone (54) was arrested in Anjuna by Anti Narcotics Cell of Goa Police on February 1, 2015 after he was caught red-handed with Rs 9.32 crore worth narcotic substances suspected to be 30,750 LSD papers and 4.7 gms of LSD liquid. Goa Police had virtually declared a war on drugs for a long period following this raid.
Sources disclosed that upon conclusion of the investigation, ANC secured the drug examination report after filing the chargesheet in the sensational case. The report said that all tests were negative for LSD. It was only later that the drug was detected to be ‘N-Bomb', a recently synthesized designer hallucinogen which is not included in the list of scheduled drugs under the NDPS Act.
The designer drug N-Bomb or 25I-NBOMe is a powerful psychedelic hallucinogen. It is also known by street names ‘solaris', ‘smiles' and ‘wizard'. The drug resembles LSD in several ways.
But it is more potent as well as cheaper than the available psychedelics including LSD.
As a result, N-Bomb blotted papers are mistaken for LSD papers by policing agencies across the world.
N-Bomb, or (4 methoxy benzyl) phenethyaminel, was discovered in 2003 by chemist Ralf Heim at the Free University of Berlin, who published his findings in his PhD dissertation.
The accused Rainone has been booked in another narcotics case involving an array of drugs and ANC now suspects that the drugs seized in the second case could include N-Bomb. Rainone frequented Goa on business and tourist visas for 14 years prior to his arrest in the 2015 case.
