LSD peddling: Five private university students put on remand

A Dhaka court on Monday placed five private university students on a five day remand each, in connection with peddling of hallucinogenic drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in the city.

The Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court issued the order after the case investigation officer sought a ten day remand for interrogation of the accused.

The remanded accused were Saiful Islam Saif, 20, SM Monwar Akib, 20, Nazmus Sakib, 20, Nazmul Islam, 24, and BM Sirajus Salekin, 24.

Earlier on 27 May, police arrested another two students of North-South University (NSU) and one student of Independent University (IUB) with LSD from the capital.

Quoting the detained who were arrested in the last four days with hallucinogenic drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), police on Sunday, said 13-14 groups are active selling LSD in Dhaka.

The arrests were made during an investigation of the death of DU student Hafizur Rahman, said police.

DU student Hafizur and three of his friends took LSD at Curzon Hall on the DU campus on the night of May 15. Later, the 24 year old killed himself the same night due to an overdose said investigators.

Hafizur returned from his hometown to Dhaka citing some urgent work on the day after Eid-ul-Fitr, on May 15, and went missing.

Later, his body was identified at the morgue of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Quoting a pedestrian, cops said that Hafizur slit his throat with the machete of a coconut seller in front of DMCH around 8pm that night.

LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), first synthesized in 1938, is an extremely potent hallucinogen. It is synthetically made from lysergic acid, which is found in ergot, a fungus that grows on rye and other grains. It is so potent its doses tend to be in the microgram (mcg) range.