Narcotic drugs syndicate busted, five apprehended

Continuing its operations against drug syndicates, Narcotic Control Bureau (NCB), Hyderabad, busted an illegal Alprazolam manufacturing unit in Balanagar industrial area and arrested five persons on Sunday. Investigations revealed they had been running this syndicate for more than five years.

Based on specific intelligence, a joint team of NCB Bangalore zone and Hyderabad sub-zone intercepted two cars on Saturday near Ujwala Grand on Medak-Hyderabad road. On thorough examination of vehicles, drug law enforcement officials recovered 3.25 kg of Alprazolam and `12 lakh cash from occupants of the two vehicles.

Subsequently, NCB officials took four persons – Y. Sudhakar, A. Naresh, K.P. Kumar and A. Srikanth, into custody.

Their interrogation led to authorities raiding a laboratory in Balanagar, where Alprazolam was being manufactured.

NCB officials recovered the drug in various stages of manufacturing.

They also discovered a makeshift room below the overhead water tank, where they found many instruments and chemicals, including a new reactor and drier, using which they could have expanded their Alprazolam manufacturing capacity.

The laboratory belonged to R. Pamarthi, who had a licence for manufacturing medical formulations in the name of Kartikeya Life Sciences. Pamarthi was also arrested for misusing his facility for clandestine manufacturing of Alprazolam.

Further investigations are underway. All the arrested have been sent to judicial custody