Hyderabad: A new drug mafia based in Mumbai and Goa has expanded its tentacles to Hyderabad, as demand for costly party drugs had peaked in the city. Senior police officials say the two Nigerians, who were arrested this week, were part of a much bigger mafia than what the police suspected.
Days before Holi, the demand for Charlie (Cocaine) surged in Hyderabad, and the drug was being smuggled from Mumbai, Pune and Goa. Sources said that Hyderabad’s rich customers prefer to buy from Africans as they deliver quality stuff unlike locals, who often adulterate it. Besides cocaine, MDMA is also smuggled to Hyderabad by the gang.
“The racket has a well established structure of kingpins, smugglers, and peddlers. Kingpins are hiding in Mumbai and Goa, while smugglers come to Hyderabad by bus or train to hand over drugs to peddlers, who are mostly Africans living in Hyderabad. We arrested two peddlers. The others are at large,” said DCP B. Limba Reddy of the commissioner's task force.
“The smugglers leave Hyderabad without leaving any trace after handing over packages to peddlers. While delivering drugs to customers the peddlers are extremely cautious. They delete their customers number soon after they make calls,” Reddy said.
But police could collect call data with the help of service providers to understand the customer base in Hyderabad. “Most of them are rich. Techies, businessmen and students are in the list. We are checking everyone and trying to track them down,” a senior police official said.
One gram Cocaine costs around Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 in Hyderabad. “So it is easy to conclude that people who shell out that much regularly for drugs must be the rich,” said Limba Reddy.
The police has also collected details of many pub crawling youths who were regular customers of these peddlers. “These established customers help the mafia to increase customer base,” said another official.
Sources from a ‘weekend party circle’ say that Cocaine is now easily available.
