ONE HELD WITH RAVE PARTY DRUGS; SMALL TOWNS PEDDLERS’ NEW TARGET, SAY POLICE

LUCKNOW : With the UP Special Task Force arresting an Azamgarh youth with 22 grams of Methadone from Chinhat area on Sunday, the Lucknow police are now looking to bust rave party drugs Methadone supplying racket. “Since this is for the second time the Methadone has been seized in the state since March 17, we will be interrogating the arrested person to further try to explore his network in the city,” said officials.

They said the UP STF have arrested two Mumbai-based drug peddlers Zafar Khan and Babu Khan in Rampur earlier and had seized around 250 grams of Methadone meant for supplying different youth groups in small towns. A senior STF official said the initial investigation had revealed that the Mumbai drug peddlers are making route to small cities due to low demand of these drugs there after the pandemic outbreak.

A senior police official said the youth identified as Danish Siddiqui alias Ish Ali arrested in Lucknow also had links with Mumbai-based drug peddlers. He said Siddiqui was in touch with the Mumbai drug peddling racket since December 2020 and had purchased drugs worth ₹ 5lakh since then.

He said Siddiqui operated his racket from a rented private hostel in a residential apartment in Chinhat’s Malhaur area. He said the accused used to get the drugs supply through parcels after making online payments.