Telangana: Close aide of drug kingpin Calvin held

Hyderabad: The Rachakonda Police on Monday arrested Nooka Navyanth, a close aide of Calvin Mascarenhas, the kingpin of the drug racket. 

The police also arrested three other drug peddlers – including a Nigerian and an engineering dropout — in connection with the drug and human trafficking racket that was busted in July. They seized 450 amphetamine pills, 45 grams of MDMA, 60 LSD stamps and other psychotropic drugs from them. The arrested are Ajah Gabriel Ogbona, Ankith Pandey, and Bollareddy Ganath Kumar Reddy. Another accused, Pavan Kumar Reddy, is absconding. 

Gabriel, who was originally suspected to be the kingpin of the racket, is a former student of the Nizam Degree College. After dropping out of college, he began selling drugs along with some Nigerians. When his friends were arrested he fled to Bengaluru. He was nabbed when he returned to the city to meet his girlfriend Ogunfowora Oluwapel-umi Esther.

Gabriel was earlier arrested in March 2017 with 20 grams of cocaine. After his release, he began sourcing drugs from Goa, Mumbai and Pune, and selling them in Hyderabad. 

Ankith Pandey, another accused, completed Bachelor’s degree in marketing, worked as an HR consultant before becoming a DJ. He became friends with the Nigerians who visited the pubs where he worked and started peddling drugs. Police said that Ankith was one of Gabriel’s regular agents. Police commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said house owners who rent houses to foreigners should verify their documents and get them registered with the Foreigner Regional Registration Offices.

WhatsApp has turned out to be a boon for drug traffickers also. The suspects arrested on Monday were found to have been using international numbers on which they were using only WhatsApp. The main accused Navyanth operated via WhatsApp only. 

Navyanth had fled to goa after Calvin was caught
Nooka Navyanth, an associate of Calvin Mascarenhas, hails from Karimnagar district. Associated with Calvin since some years, he went into hiding after Calvin was arrested.

Once a student of Geethanjali Engin-eering College, he discontinued studies in 2015. After that, he became a drug addict and came into contact with drug traffickers in Hyderabad and Goa. To meet his drug needs, he turned into a peddler.

He procured drugs from a foreign-based website. After placing orders online, he used to get the consignment in 15 days through post. 

He supplied cocaine, amphetamine pills, heroin, MDMA, LSDs and weed in Hyderabad and Goa. After Calvin’s arrest, he fled to Goa and stayed in a rented house in Anuja Beach paying Rs 450 per day and operated his business from there.

Ganath’s dad gave him up
The police received information about Ganath Kumar Reddy, one of the drug peddlers arrested on Monday, from his father Vijay Kumar Reddy.