Young women being hired to smuggle drugs

Inter-state drug smugglers are now hiring young women as mules on a commission basis to hoodwink cops while transporting contraband across borders, state excise officials said. These women, who are usually in their mid-20s, are given a certain amount based on drugs to pack their luggage with concealed drugs and board private buses to cross state borders without suspicion.

In one such case reported last week, excise officials seized 30 grams of MDMA, 10 kilos of dry marijuana, 50 grams of charas and four LSD blots and from a woman and her two aides in Banjara Hills.

“Shilpa Rai (27), a native of Darjeeling, was hired specially for smuggling contraband via borders and the same was sold to customers and small-time sellers in the city. They usually meet in motels and lodges to exchange drugs. She used to take commission based on trips and was carrying drugs from Vizag to Hyderabad when we nabbed her as she was preparing to visit Goa, which was her next place to collect a consignment and return to the city,” explained officials.

This is a new modus operandi that is being used by inter-state smugglers, sources from special operations teams of Rachakonda police, who also made similar arrests in the recent past, revealed. “They hire a young female, usually in her 20’s, and give her a makeover to ‘look rich’. She is then ordered to follow instructions and is given a mobile phone with contact information of suppliers. The mule is then given flight tickets for collecting the drug consignment and get back to the city in luxury transport buses,” explained the official.