- Title: Car-exhaust drug craze alarms Congo's capital
- Date: 29th September 2021
- Summary: KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (RECENT - AUGUST 2021) (REUTERS) THREE YOUNG MEN SITTING IN ABANDONED STRUCTURE (SOUNDBITE) (Lingala) UNIDENTIFIED YOUNG MAN HOLDING SPOON PREPARING TO MIX NUTRILINE, DIAZEPAM AND CRUSHED CATALYTIC CONVERTER, SAYING: "This is really good quality, you know the attraction to the drug is higher than the attraction of being with a woman. We are going to consume everything, we won't leave anything in the bag. We will add a bit of powder in the cigarette, and the rest we'll mix with C4 (Diazepam) and Nutriline." MAN USING RAZOR BLADE TO CUT OPEN BAG OF CRUSHED CATALYTIC CONVERTER/ MAN EMPTYING CRUSHED CATALYTIC CONVERTER ON SURFACE YOUNG MEN SEATED GETTING READY TO CONSUME MIX OF DRUGS NAMED "BOMBE" BOMBE BEING PREPARED VARIOUS OF YOUNG MEN SNORTING BOMBE (SOUNDBITE) (Lingala) BOMBE CONSUMER AND NZIGOULA 26 GANG LEADER, CEDRICK, SAYING: "We prefer to take bombe rather than other drugs because it makes us feel good, it slows us down for a long time, in doing so we don't go steal things and create problems. Before we didn't know that bombe existed, we used to drink very strong whiskey made by indians, we were agitated and we started to hurt people, but with bombe, it calms you down, you get tired, you stay somewhere standing up or sitting down for a very long time. When you're done, you go home without bothering anyone." ENTRANCE OF KINSHASA POLICE PROVINCIAL STATION SIGN FOR KINSHASA POLICE PROVINCIAL STATION PEOPLE IN POLICE CUSTODY SITTING ON THE GROUND MEN SITTING ON THE GROUND BAGS OF BOMBE ON TABLE VARIOUS CEASED DRUGS ON TABLE BAGS AND CONTAINERS CARRYING PIECES OF CAR EXHAUST PIPE CATALYTIC CONVERTER VARIOUS OF MAN HOLDING PIECE OF EXHAUST PIPE CATALYTIC CONVERTER USED TO MAKE BOMBE (SOUNDBITE) (French) KINSHASA POLICE OFFICER HOLDING SMALL BAG OF BOMBE SAYING: "This little bag here contains a powder that is called bombe." TUNISIAN NATIONALS ARRESTED WITH RESERVES OF CAR EXHAUST PIPE CATALYTIC CONVERTER (SOUNDBITE) (French) KINSHASA PROVINCIAL POLICE COMMISSIONER, GENERAL KASONGO, SAYING: "They are Tunisians, they say they bought the catalysers to export to Germany, they say it's not for local consumption, they send it overthrew to use use them again in the car exhaust pipes." KINSHASA MECHANIC TRESORE KADOGO, WORKING ON CAR KADOGO GOING UNDER CAR (SOUNDBITE) (Lingala) KINSHASA MECHANIC, TRESORE KADOGO, SAYING: "You see this is the catalyser, that's where you find the material for bombe. Often when clients come to the shop, we check underneath the car and the catalyser is gone already, it's been cut off and the car will have a strange sound. Here in Kinshasa, we don't sell catalysers for vehicles, so we have to order i in Europe, it's expensive. This one is lucky, he still has his catalyser." KADOGO SHOWING CATALYTIC CONVERTER (SOUNDBITE) (Lingala) KINSHASA MECHANIC, TRESORE KADOGO, SAYING: "The sale of this drug bombe is hurting our clients, especially recently, everyday i have clients complaining about the same problem, even in brand new cars, they've stolen the catalyser. five to 10 clients a day come to complain. Once you cut off the catalyser, you have to change it, we have no choice. We order it in Europe directly with the car manufacturer, it's complicated." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING IN KINSHASA STREET KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF COUNTRY DIRECTOR OF THE WORLD FEDERATION AGAINST DRUGS, DANDY YELA Y'OLEMBA, SITTING AT DESK BOOKLET OF THE TRUTH ABOUT DRUGS (SOUNDBITE) (English) COUNTRY DIRECTOR OF THE WORLD FEDERATION AGAINST DRUGS, DANDY YELA Y'OLEMBA, SAYING: "The risk is that, since no one knows exactly how this drug's, you know, consequences in people's body, the fear is that we will be discovering maybe in the coming weeks and months, unfortunately we don't know but wee are afraid as I said earlier, cancer, high blood pressure." KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (RECENT - AUGUST 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BOMBE BEING MIXED KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) COUNTRY DIRECTOR OF THE WORLD FEDERATION AGAINST DRUGS, DANDY YELA Y'OLEMBA, SAYING: "This is a substance made to be used in an engine, in cars, we have food, we have things to take for our body, we do not have to take substances made for cars. Because if we are announcing that, ok alright, it's normal and we start taking substances made for cars, the question is are we engines or are we human person?" KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (RECENT - AUGUST 2021) (REUTERS) YOUNG MEN SHARING CIGARETTE CONTAINING BOMBE
- Embargoed: 13th October 2021 13:34
- Keywords: bombe cars crime drugs exhaust pipe police
- Location: KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- City: KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
- Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of the
- Topics: Africa,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001EWRTLC7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: In an abandoned shack in a suburb of Kinshasa a young man slits open a bag of brown powder, blending it with a couple of crushed pills using the back of a spoon, before snorting the mixture, known as "bombe", with his friends.
"This is really good quality, you know the attraction to the drug is higher than the attraction of being with a woman. We are going to consume everything, we won't leave anything in the bag. We will add a bit of powder in the cigarette, and the rest we'll mix with C4 (Diazepam) and Nutriline," Says the unidentified man.
Within minutes the trio are swaying slowly, scratching themselves in a semi-comatose zombie state that experts in the Democratic Republic of Congo say can cause users to stand motionless for hours, or sleep for days.
"We prefer to take bombe rather than other drugs because it makes us feel good, it slows us down for a long time, in doing so we don't go steal things and create problems. Before we didn't know that bombe existed, we used to drink very strong whiskey made by indians, we were agitated and we started to hurt people, but with bombe, it calms you down, you get tired, you stay somewhere standing up or sitting down for a very long time. When you're done, you go home without bothering anyone," says Cedrick, leader of the Nzigoula 26 Gang.
Drivers, police, and drug experts aren't so sanguine.
Authorities are rattled. In August police rounded up and paraded nearly 100 alleged dealers and users of bombe, which means "powerful" in the local Lingala language following a call to action by President Felix Tshisekedi.
Police showed barrels full of exhaust filters pieces which the owners claimed were to be sent to Germany and not for local consumption.
Mechanics blame spiking demand for the drug on a rash of thefts of catalytic converters, the ceramic honeycomb, coated with metals such as platinum, which reduce the emission of toxic gases in vehicle exhaust pipes.
Mechanic Tresore Kadogo says between five and ten clients come to him every day with the same problem.
"You see this is the catalyser, that's where you find the material for bombe. Often when clients come to the shop, we check underneath the car and the catalyser is gone already, it's been cut off and the car will have a strange sound. Here in Kinshasa, we don't sell catalysers for vehicles, so we have to order it in Europe, it's expensive. This one is lucky, he still has his catalyser," he said lying under a car showing where the exhaust pipe catalysers are generally found.
Users mix the crushed honeycomb with vitamin pills and typically add sleeping pills or smoke it with tobacco, but nothing is known about how it works, or its long-term effects, said Dandy Yela Y'Olemba, country director of the World Federation against Drugs.
The metals in catalytic converters can cause cancer, Yela warned.
"This is a substance made to be used in an engine, in cars, we have food, we have things to take for our body, we do not have to take substances made for cars. Because if we are announcing that, ok alright, it's normal and we start taking substances made for cars, the question is are we engines or are we human person?"
(Benoit Nyemba, Christophe Van Der Perre) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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