A Special Operation Team (SOT) in Hyderabad has busted an inter-state drug racket and arrested three people, seizing 150 grams of heroin and two kg of ganja.
The SOT of Makajgiri zone, along with the Kushaiguda police, conducted a joint operation based on a tip-off and apprehended three people for illegally procuring, supplying and selling the drugs.
The drugs were being sourced ahead of the New Year celebrations in the city, the police said.
The accused have been identified as Rajesh and Anil, residents of Maharashtra, and Kishan, a resident of Mahabubabad district in Telangana. The drugs were estimated to cost around Rs 15 lakh in the black market.
The police said that Kishan is a drug dealer. He is well-known locally and had contacts with drug peddlers of different states. Kishan would contact Rajesh whenever he wanted a shipment of drugs, and Rajesh would then source it from Rajasthan, investigation officials said.
“Rajesh was procuring the banned narcotic drugs like cocaine, heroin, MDMA and ganja from Shabbir, his source in Rajasthan. Rajesh would proceed to Rajasthan and other places, collect the narcotic substances and conceal them in shoes. He then meets the dealer at his place, supplies the drugs and collects his money,” the police explains in the press note.
The police said that Rajesh would demand a 50% cut for sourcing the substances from Rajasthan and supplying it to the dealers. According to officials, Anil is a car driver and Rajesh’s friend.
Recently, Kishan contacted a source at Hyderabad and informed him that he knows a drug supplier from Maharashtra who was in possession of heroin. Rajesh was roped in and the duo said that they would provide the required drugs at Rs 10,000 for one gram of heroin and cocaine and Rs 6,000 per kg of ganja.
However, around 10 am on Thursday, the police raided the lodge where the accused were staying and arrested them. The team is trying to track down Shabbir from Rajasthan.
The arrests were made under the direct supervision of Rakshitha K Murthy, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Malkajgiri Zone, Rachakonda Commissionerate.
A car and four mobile phones were also seized from the possession of the accused. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act 1985.