HYDERABAD: Hyderabad police have apprehended a Yemeni national and a Palestinian man for allegedly operating an interstate drug racket using social media to source narcotics. The duo was caught with 150 grams of MDMA worth about Rs 25 lakh.
Sleuths with the Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing (H-NEW), along with Rajendranagar police, arrested the accused — Al-Aqar Abdurabu Mohammed Abdurabu (37), a native of Yemen, and Hasan WA Hasem (28), a native of Gaza, Palestine. Police seized MDMA and other material worth `25 lakh from their possession.
Police said Abdurabu, earlier a drug consumer, turned peddler and sourced narcotics such as MDMA and cocaine from an absconding Nigerian supplier. Orders were allegedly placed through WhatsApp and payments transferred online.
Hasem assisted him in collecting the drugs and selling them to consumers in Hyderabad and Bengaluru at higher prices. The duo allegedly used the ‘dead-drop’ method for distribution and also made direct deliveries to known consumers. In some instances, they sent drugs to Hyderabad-based peddlers through private travel buses.
Police said Abdurabu first entered India in 2008 on a tourist visa and stayed in Pune for two months. He returned in 2009 on a student visa, left for Yemen in 2012 and re-entered India in August 2015 on a student visa. His visa expired in September 2015 and his passport in April 2020. Police said he had earlier been involved in six cases.
Hasem, currently residing in Bengaluru, first came to India in 2016 on a student visa to pursue a BCA course in Karnataka and returned to his country during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He re-entered India in March 2022 on a business e-visa. In November 2022, Yelahanka New Town police arrested him along with a Sudan national, Fares Makhtar, after seizing 300 grams of MDMA. During his judicial custody, he came in contact with Abdurabu and later reconnected with him through Facebook. Police said the two resumed drug trafficking activities, with Hasem allegedly providing shelter and allowing his bank accounts to be used for transactions.
Rajendranagar police are investigating the case.