Police, forest department to intensify joint patrols to deter collection of hallucinogenic mushrooms in Nilgiris

Following the recent arrest of four youngsters for collecting hallucinogenic mushrooms from the reserve forests in The Nilgiris, the district police and the forest department are to conduct joint patrols in areas surrounding forest areas to prevent people from collecting the substances.

According to police, Akash, a 20-year-old youth from Bombay Castle in The Nilgiris, as well as his friends from Coimbatore, Immanuel (19), Dhanush (21) and Harish (20), had trespassed into a reserve forest near Finger Post in Udhagamandalam and are said to have been collecting a species of mushroom known commonly as fly agaric, a known hallucinogenic mushroom that grows under particular species of trees following spells of heavy rain.

Police said that in 2024, Akash and his girlfriend had consumed alcohol and the mushroom, leading to his girlfriend’s death. Police had arrested Akash and sent him to judicial custody. However, Akash is said to have come out on bail later and was studying in Coimbatore where he became friends with the three other youngsters with whom he was caught harvesting the mushrooms.

Police have arrested all the four youngsters and have remanded them to judicial custody.

After their arrests, police, as well as the forest department are to begin join surveillance of the areas in reserve forests where hallucinogenic mushrooms are known to spawn, said Nilgiris district Superintendent of Police, S. Brinda. The SP said the police will also hold discussions with the forest department to identify the locations where patrols would have to be intensified to prevent and deter youngsters from indulging in the collection of the mushrooms.