Hyderabad: The east zone team of the commissioner’s task force arrested a gang of drug smugglers near Habziguda, and recovered around 420 kilogrammes of ganja. The narcotic was being smuggled in three small trucks from Annavaram. They were about to deliver it to their contacts in Hyderabad, Nanded and Mumbai. Four drug peddlers were arrested.
The suspects, including a student, had packed the weed in polythene bags, and had kept them under the base of specifically modified trucks covered by plastic crates containing vegetables. “The ganja weighed around 420 kg,” said a police official. The kingpin of the gang, G. Nagaraju, from Khammam is still absconding. The arrested suspects are Ch. Pavan, 18, an Intermediate student from Narimhulapeta of Mahaboobabad district, V. Naresh, 26, from Nalgonda district, Y. Narsaiah, 36, from Maripeda in Warangal, and K. Srinivas, 36, of Mahbubnagar.
Police said that in the first week of March, as per instructions from Nagaraju, the suspects went to Annavaram from Hyderabad in their trucks and met a tribal contact of Nagaraju. They purchased the ganja and returned accompanied by pilot vehicles. “Pavan used to be the pilot. He informs the gang about police presence enroute,” said commissioner’s task force DCP Koti Reddy.
Police said Nagaraju’s men purchase the ganja for Rs 1,500 a kg and sell it to customers in Hyderabad and Mumbai for Rs 6,000 a kilogramme. Police said the accused Naresh and Srinivas had met in jail when they were arrested by the police in Sangareddy. Later, they came out and met Nagaraju in Habsiguda and planned the smuggling. Nagaraju called his nephew Pavan, and made him join the gang.
African held; cocaine recovered
The police arrested a Nigerian drug peddler near Secunderabad Club and seized 20 grams of cocaine from him. Gabriel Aja O., 25, had come to deliver the drug to customers. The police is checking if any club member is a customer of his. The cops, who seized two of his cellphones, are examining his contacts. Senior police officials of the commissioner’s task force said his customers could be youths from well-off families. Gabriel used to peddle drugs from Pune, and had built a chain linking his customers and sellers to mask identities.
“Gabriel came from Nigeria to New Delhi in October 2016 on a business visa and was staying at his Nigerian friend’s place in Hyderabad and New Delhi. He shifted to Hyderabad in January, 2017,” said DCP B. Limba Reddy. He was staying at Sainikpuri and often used to visit his friend’s place in Gulshan Colony. Noticing the demand for drugs in the city, he made a plan to bring drugs here through another peddler, Emeka, also a Nigerian. They used a Nigerian dialect to communicate and established a network in Hyderabad. They became a part of the network of drug suppliers operating from Pune,” the DCP added. Police said they apprehended him on Friday after receiving a tip-off.
