The anti-narcotics wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB), in a special drive against drug peddlers, busted a racket and arrested a gang of seven people from Kerala who were using online delivery apps to supply drugs.
The accused, according to the CCB officials, were operating from a rented house in Ashoknagar and would pack the drugs in gift boxes to deliver to their customers and receive the cash in the same packages in return.
The accused were sourcing the drugs from African nationals and running the racket for the last few months before the CCB officials, based on a tip-off, tracked them down and arrested them.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) S.D. Sharanappa said that seven of the accused are among 19 peddlers arrested in and around the city, in a month-long operation against drugs.
Owing to police vigil, peddlers have been using different methods to smuggle and supply drugs.
In another incident, the CCB officials arrested an executive with an insurance company for allegedly peddling drugs. He would store hashish oil in a custom-made compartment in the boot of his car to avoid undue attention, accodring to the police. The accused sourced the drugs from his contacts in Visakhapatnam and was operating in the city for the last six months before he was tracked down, a police officer said.
In a similar case, the officials arrested two food delivery executives for allegedly peddling drugs.
As many as 10 peddlers among the 19 arrested are from Kerala, while the others include two from Nigeria, one from the Ivory Coast, one each from West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, the police said.
Among the seized drugs , the officials recovered 6 kilos of hashish oil, 51.8 kilos of marijuana, 140 grams of MDMA crystals, 236 pills of Ecstasy, 34 LSD strips, and 23 grams of cocaine total worth ₹7.06 crore.
