Anantapur: Drug rackets operating through Kuwait prisons have lured several youths from rural areas in India to smuggle the stuff.
Three persons from Rayalaseema region serving jail terms in Kuwait prisons ran the drug mafia by making calls via internet and mobile phones through a Delhi-based smuggler, police here has found out.
Special Task Force team in Kadapa district on Wednesday interrogated the three who were involved in brown sugar smuggling in Galiveedu mandal in Kadapa district. Venkata Subba Reddy of Tirupati, Gajjala Subba Reddy alias Narasimha Reddy of Pinnimitla Rachapalli and Reddiah of Nagavaram in Chitvel mandal in Kadapa district operated the racket while they were prisoners in Kuwait. They involved ordinary air passengers in smuggling drugs from here to the Gulf.
Bandi Shiva Reddy, a native of Guntla Cheruvu in Galiveedu mandal was residing at the NGO Colony in Rayachoti along with his aides Sayyad Arifulla and Edoti Navin Kumar of Kandulavaripalle in Chitvel mandal.
Police seized 450 grams of brown sugar from them and they were detained. Police also seized another 850 gram of brown sugar from the residence of Shiva Reddy, that was totally worth Rs 80 lakh in the market, DSP Sudhakar said.
Shiva Reddy had first been arrested under charges of violation of Immigration Act. He was imprisoned in Kuwait jail for four months. There he established contacts with smugglers and turned into a smuggler himself. On return home, he indulged in drug smuggling activities.
“Local gangs had contacts with Delhi-based smugglers, from whom they were reaching drugs to Kadapa district. The drugs were being smuggled to the Gulf countries in Horlicks bottles, set top boxes and clothes,” police said and added that cases were also registered against Kuwait prisoners Venkata Subba Reddy, Gajjala Subba Reddy and Reddaih for their roles.
“More than 60 per cent of the total Indian nationals under detention and serving sentences in central jails of Kuwait are those involved in drugs and narcotics smuggling. The punishment under the Kuwaiti laws for violation of drug-related crimes is very severe and it may lead even to imprisonment or execution,” a senior police official from Rayalaseema observed.
