Karnataka Police busts drug peddlers' gang who posed as nomads

The Karnataka Police on Wednesday said that it has busted an inter-state gang of drug peddlers who posed as nomads.

The Central Crime Branch (CCB)'s Anti-Narcotics Wing arrested four persons, including two women and seized 5 kilograms of hashish oil worth Rs 4 crore and 6 kilograms of ganja from them, an official statement said.

According to the police, the inter-state gang ran a full-fledged network in the country. They resided in remote villages located in Araku and Senthipalli forest regions of Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh.

They had connections with drug peddlers of Bengaluru, Kochi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and other metropolitan cities. The accused called the drug peddlers from various cities to Nellore, Guntur, Vijayawada, Puttaparthi railway stations and Hyderabad city bus stand and took orders from them. They received advance money in cash at the same time, police said.

The accused would hoodwink forest and excise checkposts personnel in Araku and Senthipalli forest areas and travel as nomads. They would walk a distance of 25 to 30 kms inside the forests.

They would manufacture hashish oil using the ganja grown in the forests as per the orders and take the same route on the return journey. They would travel in buses and trains and the women would hide the drugs in bags containing fruits, vegetables, rice and wheat, the police said.

The accused would put up makeshift tents besides the railway stations. The peddlers would come to the stipulated places and take delivery of the drugs. The accused never used mobile phones and identity cards and they never stayed at one place and lived as nomads to escape from coming on the radar of the authorities.

Joint Commissioner (Crime) Raman Gupta stated that the accused have been remanded to judicial custody and appreciated the efforts of Deputy Commissioner of Police B.S. Angadi, investigation officer B.S. Ashok and other staff.