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Drug peddler’s property worth over ₹1.6 cr seized in Bengaluru: Officials
According to senior CCB officials, permission was sought under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act on September 15 to seize the property of Mruthyunjaya alias MJ, 53, a drug peddler from Kolar’s Malur taluk.
Continuing with their new strategy against drug trafficking in the city, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) has confiscated a suspected drug peddler’s immovable property worth around ₹1.6 crore in Bengaluru, officials said.
According to senior CCB officials, permission was sought under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act on September 15 to seize the property of Mruthyunjaya alias MJ, 53, a drug peddler from Kolar’s Malur taluk.
Mruthyunjaya was caught from KR Puram in July by police inspector B S Ashok and hashish oil and ganja worth ₹80 lakh were seized from him.
The accused was in a well-established drug network and nine cases under the NDPS Act have been registered against him in Bengaluru and other places. The CCB said Mruthyunjaya had bought large quantities of ganja from smugglers based in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and sold it in Bengaluru and Kolar.
Further investigations revealed that through drug peddling, the accused had amassed wealth in his and wife’s name. He had bought a commercial complex and agricultural land. The police also found that ₹5 crore had been deposited in bank accounts opened in the accused and wife’s name. Police also froze ₹44,387 from six bank accounts.
The strategy of seizing properties of drug dealers was first introduced in July when Bengaluru city police seized the properties of a drug peddler Mallesh G, a resident of Hanur in Chamarajanagar district.
Mallesh is an accused in a drug smuggling case. With the money he got from the drug smuggling, he purchased 8 acres of land worth ₹50 lakh in 2013 and also kept cash worth ₹3 lakh in five bank accounts, said a senior CCB official.
Launching a crackdown against the growing menace of banned substances in Bengaluru, the city police have registered 1,1716 drug-related cases and booked 2,262 persons till mid-June this year. The number of cases registered in the first six months indicates that by the year-end, the total figure is likely to surpass the last year’s numbers, according to the Bengaluru police.
The total value of the drug haul last year was pegged at ₹60 crore as against the ₹55 crore calculated so far in this year. In terms of quantity, the total drug haul was 3705 kgs in 2021 and 2005 kgs in 2022 until June, the police said.
In comparison, 2,766 cases were registered with 3,673 suspects being arrested in 2020. The figure was 768 cases and 1,260 arrests in 2019, HT reported.
The police also destroyed 21 tonnes of seized narcotics, worth nearly ₹50 crore, as part of International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
“Value (of seized product) is already at ₹55 crore and we are about to surpass in six months only when compared to last year. The number of cases may be less but the quality and quantity per case has gone up,” joint commissioner of police (crime), Bengaluru City, Raman Gupta said.
Last year, a total of 5,753 people were booked in 4,555 cases said the police. A total of 3,641.75 kg drugs worth over ₹592 million were seized in 2021 against 3,912.82 kg drugs worth ₹213 million captured in 2020, and 1053.188 kg drugs worth ₹34,686,700 in 2019.
As one of India’s biggest urban centres and home to over 12 million residents, Bengaluru has seen a sharp spike in drugs that range from marijuana to cocaine and other chemically-prepared substances, Gupta added.
Talking about an increase in the number of drug busts, Gupta said, “Particular reason (for higher busts) is because it is a priority to rid the state of the menace for police, government and home department.”
He added that the number of consumers has also gone up. “The demand has gone up because it (Bengaluru) is a tech hub and there are techies from north India and other parts of the country who are settled here. The young generation gets easily enticed to such vices. So, we are trying our best to target the drug trade,” he added.
The police said that they destroyed 4,353kg of narcotics, 6,679 MDMA (Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) and ecstasy pills, and 2,995 LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) strips, seized between August 25, 2021, and June 26, 2022.
