Peddlers in Bengaluru used delivery agents as drug mules: Cops

BENGALURU: The city police, who have intensified the crackdown on narcotics trade in the past week, have stumbled upon an offbeat modus operandi adopted by drug traffickers: Food and product delivery boys as drug mules.
On Monday, police announced the arrest of two delivery agents of two hyper-local logistics companies for their alleged involvement in the drug-supply racket. “During the lockdown, liquor and tobacco products were not available to people. But drugs could be accessed in Bengaluru. Taking advantage of the fact that food and product delivery boys would not be checked by the police teams patrolling the streets, a few drug traffickers used these delivery boys to supply drugs to their clients. While many camouflaged the products as medicines, a few made extra payments to the delivery boys.”
The two agents arrested have been identified as Aziz Niyaz and Guruprasad. Their involvement came to light following the arrest of traffickers Keval M Lohith and Mohammed Hifzulla, who used to procure drugs from foreign nationals and supply it to their customers.
Boys were offered Rs 500 per delivery
The delivery boys, who used to earn Rs 40 per delivery, were offered Rs 500 per delivery by the accused.
“It was a win-win for all: While the traffickers ensured the drugs reached their customers without coming under the police scanner, the delivery boys made extra money,” a police officer said. Additional commissioner of police (East) S Murugan said the delivery companies were not aware of the illegalities committed by a few of their employees and they cannot be blamed.
The DJ Halli police stated they had nabbed a courier delivery boy who had turned a peddler. The accused, Dilip Kumar from Andhra Pradesh, used to purchase drugs from dealers and supplied the same to his customers through courier. The cops seized 16kg of ganja from him.
A senior police officer said: “We knew the logistics company picks up and drops cigarettes ordered by customers, but we did not expect the delivery boys to have turned into drug mules. We are probing the supply network.”