Hyderabad police busts two drug rackets, six arrested

A drug addict from Rajasthan is said to be the mastermind behind this syndicate which was later joined by others. Out of the five arrested three are suppliers while two are buyers. Another accused is said to be absconding. Police have recovered 45 grams of heroin worth Rs.35 lakh, one auto, a pair of two-wheelers, and five mobile phones from the arrested.

Hyderabad: Hyderabad police have busted an interstate and one international drug syndicate and arrested six people in relation to the two cases. The announcement was made by Rachakonda, Police Commissioner, Mahesh Bhagwat along with DCPs Rakshitha K. Murthy, Muralidhar, ACPs Sadhana Rashmi Perumal, Naresh Reddy, and others shared details with media while interacting with media reporters on Tuesday.

Police said that the accused involved in the interstate drug racket used to smuggle heroin in bags filled with millet and arrested five people in connection to the same on Tuesday.

A drug addict from Rajasthan is said to be the mastermind behind this syndicate which was later joined by others. Out of the five arrested three are suppliers while two are buyers. Another accused is said to be absconding. Police have recovered 45 grams of heroin worth Rs.35 lakh, one auto, a pair of two-wheelers, and five mobile phones from the arrested.

"Praveen Kumar (22) from Jalore district of Rajasthan came to Hyderabad in 2017 seeking employment and started running a steel fabrication unit in Patancheru. Later he got psychotropic drugs, developed contacts in the city and then started peddling them himself. He procured heroin from local sources and was trading it for easy money,” Bhagwat said.

"Pravin came into contact with Rajasthan-based peddler Savla Mahadev Ram, and began procuring heroin from him. Mahadev Ram used to smuggle the drugs concealed in bags of millets which he dispatched through private channels. The other four were helping him. Medipally police and LB Nagar SOT arrested the five accused while Mahadev Ram remains at large," he added.

Police further revealed that an international drug gang that was transporting drugs from Mumbai and Pune to Hyderabad in travel buses was also busted by LB Nagar police. A Nigerian who was delivering drugs under the orders of Mumbai-based drug don Okoro, and a Hyderabadi who was buying from him, were arrested.

Thirty grams of methamphetamine worth Rs 6 lakh, Rs 1,500 in cash, and two phones were seized. Okoro is on the run. Rachakonda Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat along with DCPs Rakshitha K. Murthy, Muralidhar, ACPs Sadhana Rashmi Perumal, Naresh Reddy, and others revealed the details of the case on Tuesday.

Seelam Saikrishna (29) from Manikonda is a B.Tech dropout who became addicted to drugs. Six months ago, he met a drug supplier, Chijoki alias Peter (38) from Nigeria. Peter came to Mumbai on a student visa in 2014 to study computer science. Even though his visa expired in 2015, he stayed illegally and worked in an African kitchen in Pune for five years. In 2017, he was caught by the Shivajinagar police for selling cocaine in Pune and spent a year in jail.

Peter got out on bail and moved to Mumbai. There he got in touch with the drug lord Okoro and became a drug dealer. He used to supply drugs on Okoro word to said people and get Rs.10,000 per transaction.

Recently Peter came to Hyderabad after Saikrishna said that there is a demand for drugs in the background of New Year. Together with Saikrishna, they decided to sell methamphetamine. On receiving the information, LB Nagar Inspector Sudhakar's team detained the accused near an apartment in Neredmet.

Cases have been registered against the arrested Nigerian Peter under various sections for illegal stay in the country along with NDPS. The details were sent to the Ministry of External Affairs. They are inquiring as to who bought the drugs from the accused. It is known that the information of some of Saikrishna's friends has been collected. The Commissioner congratulated Sudhakar and Neredmet Inspector Narasimhaswamy who played a key role in the arrest of the accused.

Subsequently, in another incident, a gang transported large quantities of pseudo-ephedrine to Malaysia and Singapore worth hundreds of crores of Rupees. The drug was then supposed to be supplied to Australia and New Zealand through Pune and Hyderabad airports.

So far, the accused have transported pseudo ephedrine worth Rs.100 crores 15 times through Hyderabad and Pune. In the third week of December, the police seized 8.5 kg of pseudoephedrine worth Rs 9 crore from the Hyderabad airport at Nacharam, which was prepared to be sent to Australia.

Officials said that special teams will soon be sent to Chennai and Pune to hunt down drug dealers Farid, Faisal, and Rahim, who are on the run.