Drug peddlers held, MDMA seized

Hyderabad: Task Force sleuths of South-East Zone, Hyderabad, along with Secretariat Police, caught three interstate Drug Peddlers who were planning to supply drugs in view of the New Year Events in the city and seized 102 grams of MDMA Drug worth around Rs. 7.10 lakh from them.

The accused are identified as Anup Navnath Sonawane, a mechanical engineer turned drug peddler, Kiran Gangadhar Bomnale, a cloth merchant turned peddler, and their associate Vivek Rajesh Waghmare, all belonging to Maharashtra, said DCP Central Zone Sharath Chandra Pawar.

Inquiries revealed that Anup started as a consumer and became a peddler in 2020 due to the financial crisis and to earn easy money. In 2022, he was caught by the HNEW and landed in jail. But he started the business after coming out on bail. He started procuring the drug from an African National identified as Joe alias Jack in Mumbai. He supplied it to his associates, who gave it to their customers Riyaz and Arif in Hyderabad.

In view of the New Year events and the high demand for drugs, the accused asked Anup for additional supplies. Accordingly, they travelled to Pune, procured drugs, and returned to Hyderabad along with Anup. Based on a tip-off about their stay at MS Maktha, they were nabbed on Thursday. The main supplier, Joe, is at large, and a hunt is on to nab him, Pawar said.