HYDERABAD: In a major revelation, it has been established that while marijuana supply into the city is being channeled from eastern routes like Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, narcotics like MDMA, cocaine and LSD are being smuggled in from the western parts like Goa and Mumbai. Several cases have been booked in the last few months, indicating that the racket is flourishing in Hyderabad after a dry two-year spell.
“This is even as we have increased our vigilance,” an official from the city police said.
“The issue is, while we keep tabs and have informants to tip us off on habitual offenders and routine methods, many students and others from outside the drug trade have started smuggling. They consume and sell it to their close circle, making it difficult for investigators to find a pattern,” he said.
In a recent bust, the narcotics wing of city police caught Osigwe Chukwuemeka James (Alamanjo Nmasichukwu), a 37-year-old Nigerian peddler smuggling substances from Goa. Most of his clients in the city are below 40 years of age and include students, software engineers and businessmen.
On August 26, Cyberabad police caught a 38-year-old man with 13 grams of cocaine, which he procured from a Nigerian seller in Goa. On July 12, several students, including from premier colleges and universities, were caught consuming narcotics following the arrest of four drug peddlers, who smuggled MDMA from Bengaluru. In another case, four Nigerians were caught using secretly stashed social media applications to smuggle and sell methamphetamine and cocaine from Bengaluru.
An official from the Anti-Narcotic Cell (ANC) of Goa police, who nabbed Prudhvi Penmathsa, a 25-year-old from Miyapur, who was caught with 740 grams of hashish oil in North Goa’s Porvorim in July, said that the bulk of smuggling into Hyderabad and Bangalore is being done by businessmen and others from IT background, apart from foreigners dealing exclusively in narcotics.
“You wouldn’t suspect the men who have entered this business post the pandemic. While not mainly dealing in drugs alone, they often take trips every quarter by taking a break from work and return with a huge haul of drugs,” explained the official, requesting anonymity.
