The files of Anti-Narcotics Cell of the Mumbai police abound with the records of women drug-peddlers who, after having followed into the footsteps of their drug-pusher husbands, have developed the trade into a sophisticated small-scale enterprise. Money is good, risks are low (even if arrested women generally get away with a light sentence) and initial investment is zero.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Dilip Srirao says: ``Women take to drug-peddling for socio-economic reasons. But now they have added a new dimension to drug trade and developed it into a small-scale industry.''

In 1997, over 288 men and 51 women were arrested for possessing the contraband. While in 1998 the number of men arrested dropped to 199, number of women held in drug-peddling cases jumped to 69.

Officers of Narcotics Cell say that the arrests are just the proverbial tip of the iceberg. ``The number of womeninvolved in drug peddling is very large. In some cases entire families pitch in in packaging and distribution. Since these enterprises are run from houses (mostly small huts) it's very difficult to trace them,'' said a senior officer.

The Goghari family is a case in point. According to Narcotics Cell records, Shabbir Ghoghari procured drugs, while women folk of the house - Raeesa Banu, Zulekha Shaikh and Rehana Shaikh made pudis at home and distributed them. The quartet was arrested with 1.5 kg of heroin at Dahisar last month. Women's role in the seedy world of drug dealings, police believe, is not restricted to making pudis. Some of them also run organised drug cartels. Mahalaxmi Mani alias Papa Mani of Antop Hill has worked her way up from drug peddling to drug supplying. And like all druglords, she has her own private security - a band of eunuchs to shoo the troublesome cops away. Despite Mani's involvement in drug dealing for over a decade now, she has been arrested only thrice.

And ifPapa Mani has eunuchs, Radha of Bhendi Bazaar alias `Jaleli Munni' has her army of Munnis - Kali Munni, Gori Munni, Badi Munni, Chhoti Munni so on and so forth. They all peddle drugs for Radha and cops are always confused between who's who.

Police say it is difficult to apply the Narcotics Drug and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act to women. A senior police officer gave this instance: ``I was looking for a woman drug peddler for a long time. But when I finally traced her she hid the packets containing the contraband in her 6-year-old daughter's knickers. I could not arrest the woman because she was not in possession of the stuff, and I could not arrest the girl because she was just six.''

Even in courts judges are lenient with women. The sight of a woman standing with a child crying in her arms always does the trick. Also, in most of the cases these women are the sole bread earners of the family - a fact that weighs heavily in their favour.

Senior police officers feel that since most of these women areforced by circumstances to take to crime, they must now evolve a new approach to deal with them. A small beginning has already been made. Some volunteers from the Tata Institute for Social Sciences have been roped in to counsel the accused and provide them with alternative means of earning a livelihood.