The Special Operations Teams (SOT) of Cyberabad, along with the law and order police, nabbed two interstate gangs in two different cases for smuggling marijuana using Hyderabad as transit point to Maharashtra. Officials caught them in possession of 1.228 kg of the contraband and also recovered a country-made firearm along with 14 rounds of ammunition and two magazines.
In the first case, the SOT Medchal zone along with Dundigal police nabbed a gang from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The accused, identified as Mohammed Inam, 30, Banti Kashyap, 26, Lalith Kumar Kashyap, 20, Mohammed Saad, 21, were caught in possession of the country-made weapon, two magazines, 14 live rounds, 508 kg of marijuana and two cars.
Their main receiver Bablu Shinde from Solapur, Maharashtra and main supplier, one Subhash from Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh, are at large, said the police.
“The gang has been involved in property offences in the past and had hatched a plan to smuggle drugs to make easy money. They procured the country-made firearm as a protection and were involved in transporting the contraband across borders,” said the police.
Based on a tip-off, the gang was nabbed near the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in Dundigal on Tuesday. In the second case, the SOT Madhapur Zone, along with the Narsingi police, apprehended two suppliers from Maharashtra, identified as Vishal Chandrakanth Shinde and Sagar Bhaban Deshmukh. The men were smuggling 720 kg of marijuana in a medium-sized truck and were recruited to supply the contraband from one Rahman of Andhra Pradesh to Aurangabad, Maharashtra.
“Rahman recruits drivers to smuggle the drugs across State borders to his dealers in Aurangabad. He offers the drivers ₹12,000 each per trip. In their current trip, they had concealed the drugs by covering them in empty vegetable crates,” added the police.
During the wee hours of Tuesday, they were nabbed on the service road in Manchirevula by the police.
