We Have Covid,

in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, they have bombé,

I had always thought that catalytic converters were stolen a they are worth so much, even as scrap, above are catalytic converters recovered by officers after more than 300 police took part in an early morning operation in March 2019 to smash what is believed to be a criminal network fuelling an increase in the thefts of catalytic converters across London (photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA Wire),

but apparently catalytic converter are used in the making of a new and dangerous drug that threatens the lives of millions of youths. Known as ‘bombé’, which means powerful in the local Lingala language, this dubious concoction is based on a brown powder obtained from crushing the ceramic core of catalytic converters, a car part designed to cut the emission of toxic gases in vehicle exhaust pipes. Mixed with a variety of pills, this powder reportedly puts users into an almost catatonic state, where they will stand motionless for hours, sometimes days, or just move aimlessly like zombies, which has earned them the ominous nickname “zombies of Kinshasa”,

“Once they consume it, young people become like zombies,” toxicologist Prof. Ndelo Di Panzu told Radio Okapi. “The state of unconsciousness sets in, their gait changes, they sleep standing up, they start scratching their arms. Their facial expression changes as well, sometimes they cry, and sometimes they laugh, for no apparent reason, the users of bombé behave strangely, they are no longer aware of cleanliness, so they get all dirty,” Di Panzu adds. “They no longer want to eat, they sleep almost all day, anywhere.”

the toxicologist’s claims are confirmed by a bombé user interviewed by German newspaper Der Spiegel. The man said that they mix the crushed catalytic converter core with appetite-boosting pills, to make sure they eat while under the influence of the drug. “If we didn’t include them, we wouldn’t eat anything for two days,” the anonymous youth said, since its main ingredient is essentially waste material from a used car part, bombé is very cheap – around $1 per dose – which makes it widely available, “Bombé helps us forget everything. In the West, they have bank accounts, I have nothing. With bombé everything is easier,” one user said, so far no fatalities from using the drug have been reported, and hopefully the new craze which is overwhelming the police in Kinshasa will not spread to the UK.