Hyderabad: Many pharmacists and businessmen are manufacturing and exporting illegal psychotropic drugs like ephedrine from the city’s suburbs.
Cops suspect that the three-member gang which was arrested in Chandanagar with banned synthetic drugs worth more than Rs 2 crore, was just the tip of the iceberg.
Though the production of such drugs in the city had gone unnoticed so far, cops have now realised that it is an organised crime.
Sources said that to avoid being noticed by the authorities, the offenders take reactors and machines on rent and operate temporary labs with raw materials brought from Mumbai.
A major chunk of the drugs manufactured in the city are sold in countries like Malaysia, after they are smuggled to Chennai and Mumbai. The Special Operation Team of Cyberabad is slowly uncovering this hidden drug industry.
SOT officials revealed that the gangs have set up bases in the industrial areas of Jeedimetla and Balanagar, where many pharma companies operate. Though the companies are registered for manufacturing regular medicines, the offenders misuse them to make illegal drugs.
Drugs like methamphetamine, ketamine, ephedrine etc. are being produced in these illegal labs and police suspects that the gangs might also distribute the drugs in the city’s pubs and clubs on the eve of New Year.
Cyberabad commissioner C.V. Anand, said that it was an organised crime thriving in the outskirts, and efforts were on to curb the crime. “SOT of Cyberabad has started zeroing in on such gangs and firms in the city. We are giving more importance to curb organised crime in the city’s suburbs now,” he said.
