Karnataka: Six held for peddling drugs during relaxation hours

BENGALURU: Six persons, including a Nigerian national, were arrested by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) police in the wee hours of Saturday.
The accused are Adithyan PB, 29 and Akhil CS, 25, residents of Kannamangala, near Kadugodi and from Thrissur, Kerala, their associates John Chukwka, 30, from Nigeria, Sherwin Supreet John, 26, of Horamavu, Aniketh A Keshava, 26, of Amruthanagar and Domnic Paul, 30, of Koramangala. Narcotic substances -400 MDMA Ecstasy pills, 76 LSD strips, ganja-worth Rs 35 lakh and a car, bike, six mobile phones and Rs 5,000 have been seized from them.
Transaction via darknet
Police said the gang used to sell the drugs for a higher price taking advantage of the huge demand during the lockdown. They would commute between 6am and 10am when police checking is less to deliver the drugs to their regular customers that included students, IT professionals and businessmen. The gang charged Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 for a pill and also for each LSD strip. For 100 gram ganja, they used to charge Rs 5,000. Police arrested the suspects from a rental house at Kannamangala village near Kadugodi. They procured narcotics through darknet and paid Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 for each ecstasy pill from a vendor, Vagatar. The trading was done through a mobile app using Bitcoins. The drug reached them through courier.
Chukwka was earlier arrested by Hyderabad police and released on bail on March 5. Later, he came to Bengaluru and joined hands with the gang. Adithyan was also arrested by CCB police in 2016 in Banasawadi area.
Kadugodi police is probing the case.