HYDERABAD: Sleuths with the Special Operations Team (SOT) of Rachakonda Police Commissionerate, on Monday, arrested four members of an interstate drug trafficking gang. The cops also seized items worth Rs 43.83 lakh, comprising 294 kg of ganja and the vehicles used in the offence.
The police said the banned drug was being transported from Rampachodavaram in Andhra Pradesh to the city. The arrested persons were identified as Vadthyavath Tirupathi, Vadthyavath Kalyan, Panchavath Ravinder and Pathlavath Manktha while the mediator Buchi Babu and supplier Karam Surendra Dora are absconding, said Mahesh Bhagwat, Rachakonda Commissioner of Police.
Tirupathi was earlier involved in a similar case in Kalwakurthy of Nagarkurnool district in 2020. After that, he was working for a cab agency operating from Shamshabad Airport.
In this process, he purchased a used car. However, due to the Covid-induced lockdown, his business suffered and ran into losses. To overcome the financial crisis, he decided to smuggle ganja, the police said.
At that time, he reportedly engaged an unidentified person from Maharashtra for driving and went to Rampachodavaram.
He would reportedly purchase ganja from Babu in Rampachodavaram and would get it delivered to Hyderabad. At that time, Babu had allegedly advised Tirupathi to enter the ganja business as it ensured great profits.
Then, Tirupathi started smuggling ganja. The police said that he would sell a 2 kg pack of ganja for Rs 10,000 in Telangana, for which he paid Rs 2,000. Seeing the high profits, the other accused joined him, they added.
On Friday, Tirupathi went to Andhra Pradesh to procure ganja. He bought 147 packets of ganja and paid Rs 1 lakh to him for the same, while the remaining amount of Rs 2 lakh would be paid after it was delivered to Hyderabad, the cops said.
On their way to Hyderabad, when the accused reached the toll plaza at Choutuppal in Yadadri Bhuvanagiri district, they tried to evade the police by taking a diversion towards Ramannapeta, but the police intercepted them and recovered the ganja.
Habitual offender
Tirupathi, one of the arrested persons, was earlier involved in a similar case in Kalwakurthy of Nagarkurnool district in 2020. After that, he was working for a cab agency operating from Shamshabad Airport