Drug smuggling rackets go low key due to travel curbs
Illegal narcotics drug smuggling in the two commissionerates of Cyberabad and Rachakonda showed a significant fall in the past 15 months of the lockdowns, restrictions on travel, and strict check on drug peddlers, say the police.
In year 2020, around 25 cases were booked under Rachakonda commissionerate limits for illegal possession and transportation of such banned stuff. Some
2,190kg of ganja and 433 drug tablets were seized and 59 persons arrested from this region.
In the six months this year, around six ganja smuggling cases were booked. In one such, a special operations team of Rachakonda busted a racket and seized 200 kg ganja worth `40 lakh, which was bound for Uttar Pradesh from the Visakhapatnam agency area, in March.
In 2020, under the Cyberabad commissionerate limits, police arrested
58 persons and registered 59 cases. They seized around 45 kg of ganja and
207.55 kg of dry ganja, three liters of liquid ganja, opium drug of 470 grams, cocaine of 21 grams, 36 pills, 2 packs of hashish and 10 LSD papers.
In one of the cases, this year, the Cyberabad police busted a drugs racket in March and seized 140 kg of Alprazolam drug worth
`8.5 crore.
“Nigerians used to smuggle in drugs and sell it here. In 2018 and 2019, several such gangs were busted and arrests made. Subsequently they were booked under PD act,” said the Rachakonda police.
NIGERIAN CONNECTION
Nigerian gangs used to stay in Sainikpuri, Rajendra Nagar and Mehdipatnam. "They visited India on tourist visa and on health grounds. When they were booked in one city, they would move to another city.”
Many locals were also involved in smuggle ganja into the city and other states. The contraband is smuggled to Goa and Mumbai from the Andhra Orissa Border (AOB) and Khammam district. In exchange, they used to bring cocaine, LSD and other high-intensity drugs. However, everything came to a standstill due to the current travel restrictions and lockdowns.
In March last, the Rachakonda police busted a rave party on Shivratri day. Police recovered high intensity drugs like thee blots of LSD, two grams of an unidentified drug and ganja. “This year, most ganja cases we busted were of the contraband being smuggled to other cities via Hyderabad,” Rachakonda police said.
“During 2020 and 2021, due the pandemic, there were restrictions in place at the international level. All modes of transportation like via airplanes, ships and trains have been stopped” said a Cyberabad police officer.
Police have also intensified surveillance of those who were arrested in drug cases and picked up those who overstayed. This also resulted in curbing the drug menace.