India: Matriarch, courier & ‘nanad-bhabhi’ syndicate. Origin stories of women running Delhi’s drug trade | Cannabis Law Report | Where to buy Skittles Moonrock online
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From selling high-quality hashish and MDMA to heroin and cocaine, women are now an indistinguishable part of the drug trade in Delhi, working as couriers and even running syndicates.
New Delhi: She is in her mid-30s, well built with sharp features, almost fluent in English, and wouldn’t seem out of place at any club in West Delhi catering to upper middle class patrons. She is the West Delhi party circuit’s go-to supplier of cocaine and MDMA.
Delhi police have been on the look out for this mystery woman the past few months. But multiple attempts to track her down have failed—she manages to take off just before a raid, vanishing into thin air.
From selling high-quality hashish and MDMA to heroin and cocaine, women like her are now an indistinguishable part of the drug trade in Delhi. Their network is spread across Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. What makes it lucrative is that women carriers can move around more easily and are more unlikely to have a rap sheet.
Take the case of the mystery woman moving product in West Delhi. The police, it is learnt, have a name but that is in all probability an alias. “Sometimes she carries contraband. But she is also very careful. Now, she mostly meets clients and after finalising the deal, makes a call to men who work under her to deliver the drugs to the customer. She also delivers on call but only through a reference,” said a police source familiar with this case.
Investigators told ThePrint that bootlegging has been the entry point for most women part of Delhi’s drug trade. Networks built by the men of the family helped.
“So they already have a network but since men of the house have been arrested in the past, these women are extremely careful and go undetected. They are very swift in how they operate,” remarked a senior police officer in Delhi who didn’t wish to be named.
In 2024, data accessed by ThePrint shows, at least 211 women were arrested across Delhi in 188 separate cases lodged under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, involving ‘commercial quantity’ of drugs.
In 98 of these cases, ‘ganja’ was seized, followed by 82 cases where police seized heroin. Data also shows that 22 of these cases were registered in the West Delhi district, 20 in Shahdara, 19 in Outer North, 18 in North West and 14 in Dwarka district.
Over 54 percent of the women arrested in these 188 cases were between the ages of 40 and 85, including nearly 6 percent between the ages of 60 and 85.
Women traditionally enter the drug trade in peripheral or “low-level” roles assigned by male bosses. “They would be asked to make ‘puriyas’ (smaller paper packets used to distribute heroin, cocaine etc.) sitting in their homes. Their homes have iron grills. During a raid, as police are breaking open the lock, they get enough time to dispose of the drugs,” a second police source said, adding that the supply chain earlier was entirely male-dominated.
But there has been a shift in the power dynamics and gender roles in the underground economy. Women are not just making ‘puriyas’ anymore, some are running full-fledged operations—from supplying and distributing to hiring men for streetside retail.
A third police source said women-led drug operations also employ juveniles to carry out smaller deliveries.
One such syndicate is run by a 55-year-old woman known only as ‘Aunty’ who told ThePrint over the phone: “It’s just business. Earlier I sold only alcohol but then someone introduced me to the stuff. It brought in more money and one doesn’t need to work everyday. We just have to be careful not to get caught during delivery with the stuff in our possession.”
Careful not to divulge too much, ‘Aunty’ said she never entertains customers without a reference, talks to clients only on WhatsApp and never holds or delivers a large consignment. Her syndicate delivers contraband ranging from marijuana to heroin to clients across South Delhi and bordering areas of Haryana.
She sometimes moves the product herself on scooty or by car. But deliveries are mostly done through quick commerce agents who may not always be aware about the ‘puriyas’ concealed under layers of savory items or sweets.
On how she entered the drug trade, ‘Aunty’ said it was after her husband left her some years ago. “It’s good that he left. The daily beatings and harassment ended. I’m not that educated and to sustain myself and maintain a standard of living, I started by selling liquor. With drugs, the business is easier, product lighter in weight and more money.”
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