Hyderabad: Police, excise clueless about operations of narcotic drugs racket

Hyderabad: A huge racket in narcotic drugs was operating in Miyapur, Cyberabad and in IDA Bollaram right under the noses of agencies like the police and excise but they could not find it till the Narcotics Control Bureau came in.

The police and the excise are empowered under the NDPS Act and the Drug Control Administration (DCA) under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act but citing lack of intelligence, staff and jurisdictional issues they did not bother about what was happening.

On September 30, the NCB seized 221 kg of Amphetamine from Miyapur and 10 kg Amphetamine from a lab in IDA Bollaram on October 1. The value of the seized narcotic is estimated to be Rs 45 crore.

The confession of IAF wing commander G. Rajasekhar Reddy who was arrested by the NCB revealed that a drug ring had been operating in Jeedimetla and IDA Bollaram since years. Rajasekhar Reddy said that Amphetamine was made in a lab at Trident Fine Chem and Laboratories in IDA Bollaram.

TS DCA joint director M. Amruth Rao said, “We are not empowered under the NDPS Act. This happened in a chemical factory and not a pharma company. So there was no lapse from our side.”

The TS DCA has no vigilance wing like the one in AP to keep tabs on drug rackets. A DCA official said, “We are facing a staff crunch. There are no funds even to collect samples. We can book cases under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act if therapeutics are misused. Amphetamine was removed from the list of therapeutics. The NDPS Act has more teeth than the Drugs Act and the NCB can track them down. We are tied up with licensing issues.”