Hyderabad: The ongoing investigation by the Telangana police into the activities of drug mafia is making shocking revelations on how the racketeers are trafficking narcotics into Telangana and Andhra Pradesh with Goa as their centre of operations. The sleuths of the Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing (HNEW), in their "decoy operations" (arrested accused used as pawns to carry out transactions), have found out that the drug masterminds are targeting youth from the twin Telugu States when they visit certain beaches in Goa, where low-cost, affordable entertainment is available.
The HNEW team has got vital inputs after cracking and arresting some of the key suspects and peddlers in their recent decoy operation involving buying drugs, conducting raids and making arrests in Goa. It may be recalled the H-NEW has exposed the drug mafia that is running its trafficking with Goa as their central point. The police have monitored their transactions on the darknet for two months and managed to identify some masterminds through the "decoy operation". A police team went to Goa, identified key suspects and arrested some accused. It is significant that 11 of those arrested so far this year are foreigners.
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The investigation teams have also found out how this drug network is targeting their victims. Anjuna Beach is unique in Goa, considered suitable for enjoying dinner and entertainment on a low budget. Young people and IT professionals from Telugu states camp there. Many interesting facts about how traffickers target these unsuspecting youth have come out in the details collected from Pritish Borkar and Manzoor Ahmed, who were recently arrested in the drug case, said HNEW sources.
As per sources, Vikas Naik alias Vicky, Ramesh Chauhan, Steve, Edwin, Sanja Govekar, and Tukaram Salgankar alias Nana were found to be the key masterminds of the drug trade. They are monitoring all the transactions. They are acquaintances of agents and buyers who go to Goa for drugs from AP and Telangana. During investigation, the Hyderabad City Police found that drugs like cocaine, heroin, LSD, and MDMA are bought through them. It is revealed that these six people have been selling drugs for about eight years.
This drug network is first making young victims get addicted and hen they can't find money to buy drugs at higher rates, the network is turning the young addicts into sellers, luring them to earn money and forcing them to push drugs among their know contacts. Through their dark network, drugs are being delivered to known contacts and buyers within the country and abroad through couriers.
Drugs that come to Goa by sea from Russia, US , Holland, and other countries reach dealers and then to major retailers. The price goes up as it changes hands. LSD blots cost Rs 150-200 each at origin point, but go up to Rs 1,500 at agent level, which is sold at Rs 3,000-3,500 to end-use buyers. It is said that cocaine, heroin, and MDMA are also sold 10-20 times more than their origin value. The police found that 600 people were buying drugs on their phones and WhatsApp list of the accused. Over 174 of them were confirmed to have been bought in bulk.
The HNEW team headed by city Commissioner of Police C V Anand devised a strategy to identify the masterminds of the drug mafia. The dark drug network cannot be easily traceable on the internet search engines. A separate browser must be used. The accused persons, who were caught selling or using drugs, were used as pawns to carry out transactions. Drugs would be bought in bulk through them. The original address of the masterminds and the keys used for transactions were detected. After confirming that they were all true, they went to Goa and arrested them. Police officials are hopeful that more vital information will come out if the absconding accused are found.
