HYDERABAD: The EAGLE Force has busted a ganja trafficking network allegedly run by five Assam natives, including kingpin Bhaskar Hazarika, a former Hyderabad security guard, after a 60-day hunt.
Hazarika and four others — Babu Borah, Nirmal Hazarika, Pranajal Dutta and Akan Rajbanshi — were arrested on Wednesday.
Police on Thursday said the probe began on August 27, when the EAGLE Force and Choutuppal police seized 20.36 kg of ganja from a car and arrested two Odisha natives, Trilochan Samantaray and Sagarbal. They reportedly named Bikas Barik as their supplier and Hazarika as the kingpin. Barik was arrested on August 29.
Hazarika came to Hyderabad in 2014 and worked as a security guard before returning to his village. He returned in late 2017, worked with Swiggy and Zomato and later resumed security work. Police said he began selling ganja in 2020, initially sourcing it from Odisha.
He was arrested twice by Madhapur police and once by Gachibowli police in 2024 but secured bail each time. After his release in March 2024, he recruited others in his village for the racket. He resumed operations in Hyderabad in June 2025, sourcing ganja from Barik and two other Odisha-based suppliers through WhatsApp.
Bank transactions showed that Hazarika bought ganja worth Rs 48 lakh from Ashish Kumar Baliarsingh in 88 transactions between February 2 and October 29, 2026. He allegedly bought it at Rs 12,000-Rs 15,000 per kg and sold it for around Rs 50,000. Officials estimated that he procured nearly 400 kg and sold ganja worth Rs 1.8 crore in 10 months.
He allegedly ran a network of couriers, packers and delivery personnel, supplying around 100 regular consumers in Cyberabad.
“After a month of surveillance, we tracked two couriers carrying ganja into Hazarika’s house on Wednesday. We raided the premises and arrested five gang members, including the last absconding accused in the Choutuppal case,” officials said.
Rs 7L in assets forfeited
Maheshwaram police and the EAGLE Force have forfeited movable assets worth Rs 7.04 lakh allegedly acquired through ganja trafficking by a father-son duo arrested in December 2024. The original case was registered on December 1, 2024, after police intercepted a goods carrier near Maheshwaram Gate
