A final-year engineering student studying in Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) was arrested by Udupi police on Sunday after he was caught with possession of 488 MDMA tablets worth Rs 15 lakh. According to police, he had ordered the drugs through the dark web and was in the process of selling the contraband to fellow students.
The accused has been identified as 20-year-old Yuvanshu Joshi who was staying in a rented facility in Manipal and hails from Noida. He was caught red-handed when he was attempting to sell some of the contraband near Sheembra bridge. Along with the drugs, police have seized his mobile phone and two-wheeler.
Daijiworld reported that the arrest was made by a team led by Udupi Superintendent of Police Vishnuvardhan; additional police superintendent Kumarchandra; Internal Security Division police inspector Jai Shankar; DCP (Deputy Commissioner of Police) Udupi, Manjunath M Gowda; and personnel of Manipal station.
SP Vishnuvardhan said they are probing the involvement of an entire drug racket and how the drugs were procured on the dark web. He said the police were unsure why students from outside were coming to the town even though colleges have not officially reopened.
Following the arrest, the student has been suspended by the institution. Speaking with The Times of India, Srikant Rao said that Himanshu had come to college on his own.
This development comes after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in Bengaluru had recently arrested four members of a drug syndicate following detailed analysis of a parcel which was sent to India from the Netherlands in July this year. NCB had said this group was also selling drugs to students in Udupi.
The four were arrested after the NCB in July had intercepted a parcel and seized 750 MDMA tablets.