Hyderabad: Interstate drug racket busted; four held

A total of 65 kgs marijuana worth Rs 20 lakh, two cars and six mobile phones, altogether worth Rs 40 lakh was seized

Hyderabad: The Cyberabad Special Operations Team (SOT) along with the Medchal police busted an interstate drug smuggling racket operating between Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and nabbed four persons on Thursday night.

A total of 65 kgs marijuana worth Rs 20 lakh, two cars and six mobile phones, altogether worth Rs 40 lakh was seized.

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The arrested gang members are Aravind Chowdary, Abhishek Tomar, Ashish Kushwanth and Akash Solanki, all are friends and residents of Uttar Pradesh.

According to the police, Aravind, who is addicted to psychotropic substance eventually, started smuggling marijuana with the help of other drug peddlers in Andhra Pradesh to various parts of Uttar Pradesh.

“He learnt about the drug peddling business during his stay in the prison in connection with an attempt to murder case booked against him in Uttar Pradesh. He understood that with a minimum investment, he could earn good returns. Hence, he went to Visakhapatnam in AP and directly and connected with local marijuana peddlers and run his business,” said Nitika Pant, DCP Medchal Zone.

A week ago, Aravind contacted the main drug peddler and asked to arrange for 65 kgs of marijuana and the gang then went to AP and concealed the packets in the secret fake CNG Cylinder of the car.

“The duplicate CNG cylinder was mounted in such a way that the cut opening portion of the cylinder was facing towards the back seat, to a normal person it would look like a normal CNG cylinder,” the DCP said.

Based on credible information, the police intercepted the car near the Outer Ring Road in Medchal and arrested the suspects apart from seizing the drug material.