Arrested drug peddlers used delivery boys to supply drugs

BENGALURU: As part of an ongoing drive against drugs, the East division police arrested 11 drug peddlers with international and interstate links, who allegedly sourced synthetic drugs on the darknet. Narcotics worth Rs 90 lakh were seized from them.The Halasur police arrested a BCA student, Keval M Lohith, a drug addict who had turned into a peddler. He used to take part in rave parties in Bengaluru and Goa and started consuming drugs. “He became a peddler to take care of his drug expenses. First, he used his contacts with African drug peddlers to buy drugs, but later started sourcing them through the Darknet using Bitcoins. He and his associates targeted party-going youth and college students,” the police said.

In another operation, the Halasur police arrested an event organiser and his aide. The accused, Mohammed Hifzulla alias MD, who had dropped out of BCom because of his addiction, ran an event management company, Fusion Entertainment Company, which organised parties. Hifzulla and his aides allegedly supplied drugs during these parties. “He sourced cocaine, weed oil and other narcotic substances from African drug peddlers and also through Darknet,” the police said.

In both cases, the accused used online delivery boys to supply drugs to their customers by paying Rs 500 per delivery. The police seized 1,100 LSD strips, 980 MDMA tablets and 500 ml weed oil worth `47 lakh.Meanwhile, Ramamurthy Nagar police arrested Mohamed Irfan, an accused in two attempt-to-murder cases, and seized drugs worth Rs 23 lakh. “A drug abuser himself, Irfan had turned into a full-time drug peddler. He visited Mumbai and Andhra Pradesh to source drugs and allegedly sold them here. Irfan, who also supplied drugs to Kerala, had rented a flat to run his business,” the police said.

The South East division police arrested 20 people and seized drugs worth Rs 1.20 crore. In one of the cases, the Tilaknagar police picked up four students, who were allegedly selling drugs to their friends. Athithya Vohra (23), Prashanth S (21), both engineering students, Puneeth Kothari (22), a BCom student, and Nachiketh S (19), a BCA student, grew hydro-ganja in their houses and also dealt in other drugs, the police said.