Craze for drug made from catalytic converters alarms Congo's capital

KINSHASA, Congo — A new craze for a drug derived from crushed vehicle exhaust filters is rattling authorities in Kinshasa, triggering a campaign to stamp out the concoction and a related rash of car part thefts.
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In August police rounded up and paraded nearly 100 alleged dealers and users of the drug "bombe," which means powerful in the local Lingala language, following a call to action by Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi.

"This social phenomenon calls for collective responsibility by the whole nation," Tshisekedi told ministers at a weekly meeting.

In an abandoned shack in a suburb of Kinshasa a young man seeking oblivion slits open a bag of brown powder, blending it with a couple of crushed pills using the back of a spoon, before snorting the "bombe" mixture, with his friends.

Within minutes the trio are swaying slowly, scratching themselves in a catatonic state that experts in Congo say can cause users to stand motionless for hours, or sleep for days.

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