Hyderabad
The Hyderabad police on Thursday busted an inter-state narcotics smuggling racket and arrested six people, including a constable, besides seizing cash, vehicles and 44 kg of cannabis worth ₹1 crore from them, city police commissioner CV Anand said.
Anand, who is also director of Telangana state anti-narcotics bureau, told reporters that the arrested persons were identified as Vankudoth Veeranna (33), Ajmera Veeranna (21), Surneni Manoj (20), Merugu Madhu (39), Tejavath Prashanth Naik (27) and Mohd Jahangir (40).
“One of the arrested, Prashanth Naik, is a police constable belonging to 4th battalion of Telangana Special Police, attached to Greyhounds, a special force dealing with anti-Maoist operations,” Anand said.
The gang has been procuring cannabis (ganja) from Andhra Pradesh and supplying to a person, Nikhil, in Bheed district of Maharashtra via Telangana.
The police commissioner said Veeranna, the prime accused who belonged to Epuru village of Gudur block in Mahabubabad district, had taken to ganja smuggling five years ago, after doing petty jobs. He started procuring and transporting ganja from the agency areas of Donkarai, Sileru and Malkangiri to the areas of Hyderabad and Maharashtra.
“Initially, he used to assist his maternal uncle Tejavath Chanda in ganja smuggling from the forest areas of Visakhapatnam and after the latter’s death, he took it up as a full-time activity. He purchased high-end vehicles like Tata Hexa, Toyota Fortuner and Morris Garage and used to make modifications in them to conceal the ganja so that they cannot be detected during the checking of the vehicles by police and RTA staff,” Anand said.
{{/usCountry}}“Initially, he used to assist his maternal uncle Tejavath Chanda in ganja smuggling from the forest areas of Visakhapatnam and after the latter’s death, he took it up as a full-time activity. He purchased high-end vehicles like Tata Hexa, Toyota Fortuner and Morris Garage and used to make modifications in them to conceal the ganja so that they cannot be detected during the checking of the vehicles by police and RTA staff,” Anand said.
{{/usCountry}}While transporting the ganja, Veeranna used to escort the vehicle by posing as police and also got one police siren fitted in his vehicle which he uses to escape from checking at the toll gates and check posts. “With the ill-gotten money, he invested in liquor shops and supermarkets, besides constructing a luxury house at Gudur,” he said.
Acting on a credible information, the police forces belonging to narcotics bureau apprehended Veeranna and his gang members at Langar House on the midnight of Wednesday and confiscated four vehicles, 44 kg of ganja and cash worth ₹12 lakh, he said, adding that the total worth of the seized material was around ₹1 crore.
Meanwhile in another operation, the police belonging to the narcotics bureau also arrested a Nigerian national, identified as Ogbaugu David Uka (58), and seized 264 psychotropic drug pills worth ₹10.56 lakh from his possession on Wednesday night at Film Nagar in Hyderabad.
Ananda said Uka, a resident of Bengaluru, was a kingpin in drug supply and had contacts with drug peddlers in Hyderabad. In the recent past, the police had arrested seven drug peddlers at Kacheguda and Kukatpally who were found to be procuring the drugs from Uka.
“Investigation revealed that Uka was projecting himself as a pastor and was serving as welfare chairman to the All India Nigerian Students and Communit Association, helping them with legal assistance in drug peddling cases. He was using fake identity cards to conceal his identity and was also in possession of a fake visa,” the police commissioner said.