It may sound like the plot of a movie – like, have you seen ‘Upstream Color‘? – but the news of a triad-type gang that is a part of an international organisation who takes advantage of their victims after putting them in a drug induced state is real.

The story goes like this: two women would go up to unsuspecting people – often of the older generation – in Paris and request the whereabouts of a mysterious ‘Dr Wang’.

They managed to isolate their victims, then got them to breathe in a mixture of plants on the grounds they had powerful curative qualities – even protecting them from misfortune. Once they inhaled, all the victims recounted falling into a kind of “hypnotic state under the total sway of their handlers.

The women, aged 42 and 59, blew a substance that is thought to contain scopolamine, a hazardous drug extracted from a South American tree related to deadly nightshade (you might have it in your garden). The flower is quite beautiful in fact, the name Angel’s Trumpet describing exactly what looks like:

The hypnotic state of the Datura plant also causes hallucinations and is lethal in strong doses. It was used during the cold War by the CIA and Soviets to entice the truth out of prisoners during interrogations. 

Scopolamine can render a victim unconscious for 24 hours or more. In large doses, it can cause respiratory failure and death. It is most often administered in liquid or powder form in foods and beverages. The majority of these incidents occur in night clubs and bars, and usually men, perceived to be wealthy, are targeted by young, attractive women.

Their operation was discovered after a member of the  victim’s entourage was able to identify the pair.

In a subsequent raid on their hotel room in Seine-Saint-Denis, a north-eastern suburb, police discovered an array of vials including various Chinese medicinal substances as well as weighing scales, filters and gloves. Analysis of the substance’s precise contents is under way.

A third 56-year old suspect, thought to have prepared the mysterious drug, was later arrested.

According to Chinese authorities, the trio belongs to a notorious Chinese criminal network, which “acts around the world and specialises in mental submission with the aid of unknown products”.

About 50 000 incidents relating to the drug occur in Columbia each year.

[source: telegraph]