Hyderabad: City trapped in a web of drugs and darknet

HYDERABAD: The city was functioning at a normal pace until a can of worms opened on it on July 2 this year. The Prohibition and Excise department’s Enforcement wing busted a drug racket in Secunderabad on the fateful day. Investigations revealed that children as young as 13 years were trading nude selfies to drug peddlers in return of drugs.However, this was just the tip of the iceberg and further investigations revealed led sleuths to around 22 peddler. The peddlers were all experts at using the Darknet to procure drugs and had a huge customer base. A large cache of LSD blots, cocaine, MDMA and several other drugs were seized.  

Still more skeletons tumbled out when the sleuths checked the call-data records, SMSes, WhatsApp conversations and 12 tollywood personalities including director Puri Jagannadh, actors Ravi Teja, Charmme Kaur and Mumaith Khan, and few others were roped in for interrogation regarding their alleged links with the peddlers.

However, nearly six months after the first apprehension, officials of the Excise Enforcement wing are yet to file a charge-sheet in the court. In the meantime, the Calvin Mascarenhas, who was held for allegedly possessing 2.6 gm of DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) and was named as a one of the big-fish of the racket, got bail when the prosecution failed to obtain a report from Forensic Sciences Laboratory. Top sources in the state police department shared: “Not just here (Telangana), nobody in the country has a control sample of drug seized from Dutch national Mike Kamminga. We tried to get sample to test its similarity with alleged drug seized from Mike’s possession, but was not available.”

Around 22 arrests were made so far in the case and children studying in around 27 schools were found to be victims of the drug racket. In the earlier half of 2017, police arrested former research coordinator in Neurology department at NIMS, Sujath Ali Khan, for selling chocolates mixed with Ganja. 

Student held for possessing drugs
An engineering student who was in possession of MDMA and LSD blots, was arrested by State Task Force of Prohibition and Excise department officials on Friday. The student, identified as G Santosh Kumar,  bought one gm of MDMA and 10 LSD blots to sell during New Year celebrations and earn easy money. In another incident, Excise sleuths raided two places at Shamshabad and arrested one Mohammed Sadiq from Aram Ghar area, for allegedly selling imported liquor.