Hyderabad: Interstate drug peddling racket busted, drug worth Rs 50 lakh seized

Rachakonda police arrested four Maharashtra-based men in Hayathnagar and seized 166 kg of marijuana worth Rs 50 lakh. The gang sourced the contraband from Odisha and used Hyderabad as a transit route to smuggle it to Maharashtra. The key supplier is absconding.

Hyderabad: The Rachakonda Special Operations Team along with the local police busted an interstate drug peddling racket and arrested four persons and seized 166 kg of marijuana worth Rs 50 lakh, a car and mobile phones, altogether worth Rs 65 lakh in Hayathnagar on Friday.

The arrested persons are Vikas Baban Salve, a painter, Ranganath Yurajn Sadve, Sagar Gajanan and Amol Narayan Borde, all from Maharashtra.

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According to the police, Vikas Baban Salve who wanted to make easy money by peddling drugs contacted Maik alias Rahul, the main drug source from Odisha.

“Vikas observed that many construction and daily wage worker from Maharashtra were into drug consumption, particularly marijuana in its various forms. This inspired him to devise a plan with his friends to make quick money by selling marijuana,” said G Sudheer Babu, Police Commissioner, Rachakonda.

The gang procured marijuana from Odisha and smuggled in into Hyderabad, which is used as a transit route and transported it to Maharashtra, where it was sold at a higher rate.

On June 19, the gang went to Malkangiri in Odisha and collected 166 kg of marijuana from Rahul and they were transporting it in a car to Maharashtra via Hyderabad, when they were caught at Hayathnagar.

Police officials said efforts were underway to trace and nab the main source Rahul, who is currently in absconding.