HYDERABAD: With regular seizure of narcotics and arrest of alleged peddlers, officials of prohibition and excise department are getting to know how widely the darknet is used in Hyderabad to procure drugs.
Knowing too well that darknet is an international issue and cannot be shut down, they are trying to know if orders placed on darknet can be tracked.
Sources in the department said they were taking help of hackers to find if the orders can be tracked. “We have taken the first step towards it and there is a long way to go,” the sources said.
Recently, a team of police officers who wanted to get first-hand knowledge of the darknet, logged into the website to know the nitty-gritty of its functioning: how one logs into the darknet, which websites are used to procure narcotics, how a deal for LSD is struck and how transactions are carried out.
This route to procure narcotics has become a persistent problem as officials get to know that someone has used darknet to place orders only after they catch the users or alleged peddlers.
At least, five alleged peddlers caught by them used this route to buy narcotics. After an order is placed, the narcotics consignment is sent through courier to homes in Hyderabad.
Officials of the Telangana State prohibition and excise department have tightened this route of drug delivery by holding meetings with India Post officials and international courier service companies.
The companies would inform the officials if someone in Telangana regularly receives parcels from South American or European countries.
Besides postal, air route is used to smuggle in drugs and this route is being monitored by the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI).
Some drug consignments are sent by trains too and this is being checked by the Government Railway Police. However, to nip the issue in the bud, enforcement agencies want to first close the route to ordering drugs.
Earlier, peddlers who were caught by excise officials had disclosed the names of the darknet websites used by them to buy drugs and how the consignments were delivered at their homes.