Telangana police bust inter-state drug smuggling racket, 8 arrested

Hyderabad: The Special Operations Team (SOT) of LB Nagar along with Hayathnagar police on Saturday busted interstate ganja (weed) smuggling racket. The police have seized 650 kgs of ganja and other properties worth Rs. 83.5 lakh from the accused.

According to Mahesh Bhagwat, Rachakonda Police Commissioner, eight drug peddlers, between the age group of 23 to 28 years, were transporting ganja from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to Zaheerabad in Telangana.

The police have seized 650 kgs of ganja, a truck, one car, cash of Rs.60, 000, 10 mobile phones.

The police stated that the main leader of the racket Pathala Nagesh, 28, resident of Butchayyapet village in Andhra Pradesh, had approached his close friends to join him for illicit transportation of ganja from Andhra Pradesh to Telangana.

Police said, “On January 8, 2021, all eight procured 650 kgs of Ganja in 300 packets and loaded the same in a van, while they reached near Pedda Amberpet ‘X’ road, the SOT LB Nagar team along with Hayathnagar police caught the racket and seized the material.”

Later, the Hayathnagar police have registered a case under section 20 (II) (B) of the NDPS Act against the accused.