Breaking baddies: Drug syndicates busted in Telangana, Karnataka

HYDERABAD/BENGALURU: Sleuths from Prohibition & Excise Department from Medchal-Malkajgiri district seized huge quantities of drugs worth over Rs 2 crore and arrested two persons on Saturday. The suspects were allegedly supplying the party drug Mephedrone, also known as Meow Meow. A case has been registered against them, said K Vijay Bhaskar, district prohibition & excise officer.

Based on credible information, sleuths from the District Task Force team raided a flat at Kukatpally and caught Pavan alias Chitukuri Prashanth Reddy and seized 5 grams of the drug from him. Using the information elicited from him, raids were conducted at the residence of Kanna Reddy alias Mahesh Kanna Reddy at Bongulur Gate on the outskirts of the city, and 921 grams of the drug was seized from him.

Based on Kanna Reddy’s admission, the officials caught K Ramakrishna Goud at Thimmajipet in Nagarkurnool district and seized 4 kg of drugs concealed in an SUV parked on the premises of the Civil Supplies godown.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru zonal unit, has arrested six people in two cases under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, and one car has been seized, after the Central agency busted two major drug syndicates in the past three days.

According to the NCB official, on Saturday, the officers “intercepted a Maruti Swift car bearing Andhra Pradesh (AP) registration at Devanahalli toll and apprehended four people after recovering commercial quantity of MDMA pills, methamphetamine and methaqualone from the possession of a resident of Vizag. The other three persons are from Bihar and Hyderabad. They were going towards Hyderabad from Bengaluru,” said Ghawate.

In a follow-up action, the premises of the supplier were identified and a search resulted in seizure of a small quantity of high grade ganja. “The syndicate reportedly procures a variety of contraband drugs from suppliers based in Bengaluru and sells them to youths at parties and pubs in Hyderabad,” he added.

“More than 10 grams of MDMA is commercial quantity under the NDPS Act. Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine is commonly known as ‘ecstasy’ and ‘molly’ in party circles. In an earlier operation on October 21, NCB officers of the Hyderabad sub-zone had intercepted a parcel and “seized 3 kg of pseudoephedrine, which was concealed in three lehengas. The contraband was well concealed. The parcel was destined for Australia,” added the NCB officer. 

The consignor of the consignment was identified to be at Chennai and the NCB Chennai team apprehended him after two days of prolonged field surveillance.  Bengaluru is emerging as the transit route for pseudoephedrine from South India to Australia. In November last year, the NCB had busted an international drug syndicate, which reportedly involved two young women boxers and two Nigerians, who were allegedly smuggling pseudoephedrine for more than a year.

The four were arrested under the NDPS Act.Last year, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence had seized over 500 kg of pseudoephedrine from across India, including 25 kg of the drug from the Kempegowda International Airport.

3 kg of crystal meth component seized in Bengaluru

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru zonal unit, has busted two drug syndicates in the past three days. The agency seized MDMA pills, methamphetamine and methaqualone in Bengaluru, besides 3 kg of pseudoephedrine from Hyderabad, which was concealed in lehengas, said NCB zonal director Amit Ghawate.