HYDERABAD: Ephedrine worth Rs 25.5 lakh was seized and four realtors from Andhra Pradesh and a restaurant owner from Hyderabad were arrested in a joint operation by the Mirchowk police and Task Force sleuths of Hyderabad on Tuesday. Ephedrine was smuggled from Tirupati to Visakhapatnam and then to the city, police said.
Acting on a tip-off, two teams of police swung into action and apprehended five persons at the Mahatma Gandhi Bus Station.
The accused P Kesava alias Shiva of Tirupati, R Sri Pavan Kumar alias Danial, R Suresh Reddy alias Rajesh and P Hemanth Kumar Goud of Visakhapatnam and P Praveen Reddy of Hyderabad, all realtors, were taken into custody, after finding a bag containing two packets of white coloured powder in the their possession.
The police have confirmed that the drug is a narcotic and psychotropic substance. “Clues team was asked to check the powder and it was identified as ephedrine,” said south zone DCP V Satyanarayana.
The DCP said the preliminary investigation revealed Keshava collected the drug from one of his friends at Tirupati and went to Visakhapatnam. From there, along with other accused came to Hyderabad to sell the drug.
“They tried to sell it saying as brown sugar. Keshava went to Visakhapatnam with the drug and came to Hyderabad to sell with the help of Praveen, who is a restaurant owner at SR Nagar. We will crack the network soon and arrest all the people involved in the drug racket,” said Satyanarayana.