Scopolamine in Devil’s Breath drug turns victims into willing zombies
A powerful Colombian drug that comes from the flower angel's trumpet is now being used by syndicates to make their victims willing zombies. The drug, which has scopolamine, is also known as Devil’s Breath.
The Telegraph reports that the drug was allegedly used by the Soviets and the CIA during the Cold War as a truth serum. Besides its use in interrogations, the drug’s chemical composition induces powerful hallucinations.
On Tuesday, Paris police arrested two Chinese women and a man suspected to be part of an international criminal syndicate that uses the drug on their victims. They were arrested at the entrance of a metro station after a friend of one of the victims identified them, although the suspects denied the accusation.
The two women, aged 59 and 42, went near strangers in Paris streets. Reports said that most of their victims are old people whom one woman accosts and then isolates. As soon as they are alone, the woman tells the senior to breathe the drug made from an herbal mixture with curing properties. They even tell their victims that the mixture would protect them from misfortune.
The victims then fall into some kind of hypnotic state which the women take advantage by accompanying the elderly people to their homes and loot them of their money and jewellery. One victim, a Paris resident, lost 100,000 euro in cash and valuables to the gang.
When police raided their hotel room in Seine-Saint-Denis, it yielded a lot of vials filled with different Chinese medicinal substances, weighing scales, filters and gloves. The police is analysing the content of the vials.
The seeds of the Borrachero tree, known for its white, red, pink and yellow flowers, contain scopolamine. The drug is produced in Colombia using a chemical process that turns the scopolamine into a white powder similar in appearance to cocaine.
According to Colombia Reports, there was a 133 percent increase in the number of robbery victims in Colombia itself in 2015 in which Devil’s Breath was used, according to General Jose Gerardo Acevedo. As of Aug 18, there were 189 victims, up from 80 victims for the same period in 2014.
Scopolamine was also used on rape and car theft victims. The plant, also called Brugmansia, is grown throughout the Andes.
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