Imagine walking down a quiet street, minding your own business, when a stranger approaches. They offer you a seemingly harmless business card, and you take it without thinking twice. Little did you know that the card was soaked in a drug, which would be absorbed by your skin within minutes.

Or someone might just blow the powdered drug directly in your face, and after inhaling that, within minutes you find yourself in a "Zombie-like state", unable to control your actions or resist their demands.

"Devil's breath" can render victims suggestible and disoriented, causing them to lose all willpower and readily give up their belongings to criminals. It takes effect within 10 minutes of inhalation, and the victim's memory and brain can't function normally.

— Dr Dulal Krishna Saha Chief chemical examiner of DNC

The drug leaves victims with no ability to control their actions. According to worldwide urban legends, the victims will do anything for their attackers, from giving up all their belongings to even going as far as killing someone for them.

The drug is scopolamine, derived from nightshade plants. Scopolamine, also known as hyoscine, is a natural or synthetically produced tropane alkaloid and anticholinergic drug which has a few legitimate medical uses, such as treatment for motion sickness, postoperative nausea and for the tremors of Parkinson's disease.

It is said to be one of the first "truth serums" which was used during WWII to obtain information from unwilling targets. However, it's mostly known for its darker sides.

It is popularly known as "devil's breath", and is globally recognised as "the world's most dangerous drug".

Criminals, particularly in Colombia and Ecuador, have used it to render victims helpless, robbing them blind, stealing their belongings, or even committing more heinous crimes such as murder or rape.

The scariest thing is that the drug has found its way to criminals in Bangladesh.

Fatema Begum, a resident of Chattogram, fell victim to such a crime on May 22.

While returning from a local market, two men posing as charity workers approached her, and when she turned around to talk to them, one of the individuals blew some powder in her face, leaving her disoriented.

Under the drug's influence, Fatema lost control over herself and unknowingly complied with the criminals' demands. They stole her valuables, including jewellery worth Tk 80,000, cash, her phone, and a shopping bag.

The incident was captured on CCTV. Bystanders mistook the interaction for a usual encounter.

Double Mooring Police Station Officer-in-Charge Fazlul Kader Patwari said under scopolamine's influence, Fatema did what the criminals told her to do. When Fatema regained her senses after some hours, she realised she had been robbed.

"Scopolamine is made from the Borrachero plant. Known as "devil's breath" in its powdered form, this substance can render victims suggestible and disoriented, causing them to lose all willpower and readily give up their belongings to criminals," Dr Dulal Krishna Saha, chief chemical examiner of the Department of Narcotics Control, told The Daily Star.

By putting it on a visiting card, paper, cloth, or mobile phone screen, it's brought within four to six inches of the target's nose.

"It takes effect within 10 minutes of inhalation, and the victim's memory and brain can't function normally. Some take an hour to return to normal, while many fail to fully recover within three to four hours," he said.

In recent years, robberies using scopolamine have been reported in various parts of the country, including Dhaka, Jashore, Khulna, Rajbari, and Bogura.

Narayanganj Police first recovered 10 grammes of scopolamine from a gang in September 2023 while investigating the murder of a teacher of Northern University.

The gang used to sell scopolamine, potassium cyanide, and chloroform through online groups.

Police do not have exact figures for crimes related to scopolamine, but they found some Iranian nationals' involvement in them, along with local culprits.

On January 21, 2023, Jisan, an employee at a travel agency in the capital's Pallabi, fell victim to such a crime when two Iranian men visited the agency and took Tk 4.5 lakh from Jisan's cash box.

Despite watching them and talking with a smile, Jisan did not realise he was being robbed until they left with the money. Later that month, police detained one of the culprits.

In April last year, law enforcement arrested five individuals -- including three Iranians, in Dhaka and Jashore -- following a robbery in Abhaynagar, where a shopkeeper handed over Tk 6 lakh to the perpetrators.

Later in August, two more Iranians were detained in Shibganj of Bogura, following a similar incident.

Contacted, Enamul Haque Sagor, assistant inspector general (media) of Police Headquarters, said, "It is a different modus operandi than regular crimes. We have already arrested several individuals. Whenever such crimes with unusual methods come to light, we take action."