International drug racket busted in Hyderabad, two held

HYDERABAD: The Rachakonda police, on Monday, busted an international narcotics peddling racket by arresting two drug peddlers after seizing 8.5 kg of pseudoephedrine drug which is worth `9 crore in the international market.According to Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagawat, on a tip-off, sleuths of the Special Operations Team of Malkajgiri Zone and Nacharam police busted the racket. The names of the arrested are: Mohammad Kasim (31) and Rasuldeen (39). They are involved in the clandestine supply of pseudoephedrine (a narcotic control substance) through an international courier agency from Hyderabad to Australia and New Zealand.

The arrested persons are from Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu. They along with absconding accused Fareed, Faisal from Pune, and Raheem, a native of Chennai, had been supplying drugs from Pune and Hyderabad which was concealed as air cargo to Australia and New Zealand.

Bhagwat said that they used to book the drug parcels at international courier services located at Pune and Hyderabad by concealing the pseudoephedrine in cloth boxes, bangle boxes,baby wear gift packs by providing false Aadhaar, Pan cards as address and identity proof.

On Sunday, the SOT, Malkajgiri Zone team along with Nacharam police raided a lodge, under the limits of Nacharam police station and seized 8.5 kg of pseudoephedrine, cash of Rs 4,02,500 and incriminating material from their possession.

During the interrogation of the accused, it has been established that the duo received pseudoephedrine from Raheem. They put 200 grams of it in plastic covers, hid in the inner layers of the cloth boxes along with clothes and transported to Australia and New Zealand through courier parcel agencies viz., GVR International Courier Service, Hyderabad and Indofine Express Service, Pune by concealing the contraband in different items.

They confessed that they had so far shipped 15 consignments, which included 70 kg of pseudoephedrine to Australia and New Zealand during 2022. Likewise, four days back they received the pseudoephedrine drug from Raheem. They came to Hyderabad in a bus on Sunday morning and took a lodge with an intent to pack and transport the drug to the addresses provided by Raheem but the police swooped in on them before they could ship them out.

On examination of the boxes, a plastic cover was found containing a white powder-like substance sandwiched between the two layers of the cardboard box. Twenty-three such cardboard boxes were found and they contained about 4.6 kg and three plastic covers contained 3.9 kg of pseudoephedrine.