The cops at the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) are getting smarter by the day. After busting many a rave in the past with the help of information posted on internet forums, officers are now creating fake accounts on popular social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut to fish out New Year parties where drugs are likely to be consumed.

According to them, such private parties are being promoted through members of social networking sites amongst their friends and other members who are part of their group.  Officials are hence keeping a close watch on the activities and communication on social networking sites by registered members.

There are several communities created by members for New Year parties, some of which, officials believe, are a guise for inviting patrons for a rave party. Invites or tickets for the biggest rave parties busted in the past were sent through social networking sites, or links through posted on them, which would then connect the person to some other website.

A senior ANC official said, "People post 'scraps' which have subjects like 'trans party' or 'high life party', which is a ploy to hoodwink police officials. We try to decode these messages, and after keeping a continuous check on the messages being posted, or by checking where the links are leading to, we figure out if they are for a normal party, or whether there are chances of drugs being consumed there."

He added, "Once the interested user gets in touch with the owner of the online community on the website, and if the owner finds him a trustworthy patron, he gives him his mobile number, or sends him an SMS informing the details of the location, and also the cost involved."

Officers have created their own profiles on several social networking sites and are also being aided by college students and a few informers to unearth such activity on the internet. These profiles are mostly created with fake names and details, and the age group mentioned on these profiles is anything from 18 to 27 years. In correspondences, the officer usually mentions that either he is a college student, an IT professional or a BPO employee.