HYDERABAD: A total of six interstate drug peddlers, sellers, transporters, receivers and mediators were arrested in a joint operation by sleuths of LB Nagar Special Operations Team (SOT) and Abdullahpurmet police on Monday. The cops also seized 590 kg of ganja, four mobile phones and a four-wheeler, all amounting to Rs 1.3 crore.
Addressing the media, Rachakonda Commissioner of Police (CP) Mahesh Bhagwat mentioned that the smugglers were transporting the banned drug from Odisha to Maharashtra when they caught the prime accused Karan Parusharam Parkale, who is a receiver and seller. He had looped in drivers Santosh Anil Gaikwad, Akash Shivaji Chaudhari and Vinod Laxman Gade, and an engineering student Ajay Mahadeo Ethape on a commission basis of Rs 500 per kg and be paid via a mediator Bhukya Sai Kumar from Suryapet, who is currently absconding, the CP added.
Parashuram has been peddling ganja from Malkangiri in Odisha to Maharashtra since 2019 and has contacts in the border area of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, Mahesh said, adding that the accused had been arrested by Andhra Pradesh’s Sileru police in 2019 under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act and was in jail for six months at Visakhapatnam.
Even after his release, he was arrested under the NDPS Act by Abdullahpurmet, Ghatkesar and Vanasthalipuram police and detained under the Preventive Detention (PD) Act for three months, the CP said. Parashuram had ordered 590 kg of the drug from Raju, Bheema and Ambothu Nagaraj in Malkangiri. They had distributed the 590 kg of ganja into 48 packs of 10 kg and 55 packs of 2 kg.
The prime accused purchased the ganja at Rs 3,000 per kg and was going to sell it for Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per kg. However, when they were making their way to Maharashtra via Hyderabad through the Outer Ring Road (ORR) when the cops intercepted their vehicle, arrested the offenders and seized the contraband. A total of three suppliers are said to be missing.