Car-exhaust drug craze alarms Congo's capital

A man shows a substance known as "bombe", a mix of catalytic converters' crushed honeycomb and pills, before snorting it, in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo August 31, 2021. Picture taken August 31, 2021. REUTERS/Benoit Nyemba

KINSHASA (Reuters) - 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.

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.