What is BURUNDANGA? SCOPOLAMINE

BURUNDANGA

What is burundanga?

Burundanga is the street version of a pharmaceutical drug called scopolamine. It is made from the extracts of plants in the nightshade family such as henbane and jimson weed. It's a deliriant, meaning it can induce symptoms of delirium such as disorientation, loss of memory, hallucinations, and stupor.

You can see why it would be popular with criminals.

In powdered form scopolamine can be easily mixed into food or drink, or blown directly into victims' faces, forcing them to inhale it.

The drug achieves its "zombifying" effects by inhibiting the transmission of nerve impulses in the brain and muscles. It has several legitimate medicinal uses, including the treatment of nausea, motion sickness, and gastrointestinal cramps. Historically, it has also been used as a "truth serum" by law enforcement agencies. And, like its street cousin burundanga, scopolamine has frequently been implicated as a stupefying agent or "knockout drug" in the commission of crimes such as robbery, kidnapping, and date rape.

URBAN LEGEND:

Forwarded emails warn of criminals using business cards or pieces of paper impregnated with a potent street drug called burundanga (aka scopolamine) to incapacitate victims before attacking them.

Description: Email rumor

Circulating since: May 2008

Status: Mostly false 

Example No. 1:

"Beware of this Clever Crime in Malaysia!!!

This has been sent originally by a member of the Malaysia police force on FB.

Share with everybody you know, particularly your wife, sisters, daughters, nieces, mother, female friends and colleagues.

At a petrol station, a man came over and offered his services as a painter to a lady filling petrol in her car and left his visiting card. She said nothing but accepted his card out of sheer kindness and got into the car. The man then got into a car driven by another person.

As the lady left the service station, she saw the men following her out of the station at the same time. Almost immediately, she started to feel dizzy and could not catch her breath. She tried to open the window and realised that the odour was on her hand; the same hand with which she had received the card from the person at the service station.

She then noticed the men were immediately behind her and she felt she needed to do something at that moment. She drove into the first driveway and began to honk her horn repeatedly to ask for help.

The men drove away but the lady still felt pretty bad for several minutes after she could finally catch her breath.

Apparently, there was a substance on the card that could have seriously injured her.

This drug is called 'BURUNDANGA'. (Not known To People So Far but

sufficient Information Is available in the Net) and it is used by people who

wish to incapacitate a victim in order to steal from or take advantage of

them. This drug is four times more dangerous than the date rape drug and is transferable on a simple card or paper.. So please take care and make sure you don't accept cards when you are alone or from someone on the streets. This applies to those making house calls and slipping you a card when they offer their services. "

Analysis: 

Is there a drug called burundanga used by criminals in Latin America to incapacitate their victims?

Yes.

Do news and law enforcement sources confirm that burundanga is being used to commit crimes in the U.S., Canada, and other countries outside Latin America?

No, they do not.

The story above, circulating since 2008, is almost certainly a fabrication. Two details betray it as such:

1) The victim allegedly received a dose of the drug by simply touching a business card. (All sources agree that burundanga must be inhaled or ingested, or the subject must have prolonged topical contact with it, in order for it to have an effect.)

2) The victim allegedly detected a "strong odor" coming from the drug-laced card. (All sources agree that burundanga is odorless and tasteless.)

source from: http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/crime/a/burundanga.htm