Hyderabad: In a major bust, the Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing (HNEW) seized 16 grams of cocaine from a Nigerian drug peddler, and 43 LSD blotting papers in another incident on Saturday, while Excise Enforcement officials seized 33 grams of “kush” drug from three peddlers.
HNEW officials arrested Okaro Cosmos Ramsey, a Nigerian living in Hyderabad, who sold the cocaine. According to HNEW DCP S. Rashmi Perumal, Okaro came to New Delhi on a business visa and settled in Hyderabad. Police said Okaro sold the drugs to pre-identified consumers and communicated with them on virtual numbers on encrypted apps like Telegram.
In 2016, he was arrested by Golconda police along with another Nigerian who was in the possession of cocaine. After being released on bail, he procured cocaine from another Nigerian, Obasi from Bengaluru, and started peddling it in Hyderabad. In 2018, he was again arrested by the Golconda police.
In another case, HNEW officials arrested V. Lakshmipathi alias Lucky, and seized 43 LSD blotting papers from his possession. He had received the LSD from Mumbai through courier. Communication between him and the consumer was done through SnapChat to ensure anonymityand all transactions were in cash, officials added. Lakshmipathi had six prior cases.
Excise enforcement officers caught 33 grams of ‘kush,’ produced in Africa and America by combining cannabis, fentanyl and tramadol, in Tarnaka’s Lalapet, and arrested three men who were trying to sell it. Police arrested Mohammed Khan and Mohammed Mobin who were selling kush to students and seized 23 grams of the drug from them. They said they obtained the drugs from Nikhil Nayak whom the officers took Nayak into custody, and recovered another 10 grams of the narcotic. Superintendent K. Pradeep Rao said each gram of kush is sold for Rs 3,500.
