The city police on Tuesday busted an international drug racket involving the drugs Ecstasy and LSD, and arrested its kingpin and 2 others for the offence.
Addressing a press conference, City Police Commissioner A K Khan said that the leader - Anthony, a resident of Mangalore - was arrested along with his partner Dheeraj Nayak, while he was trying to smuggle a huge consignment of Ecstasy and LSD into Hyderabad.
The drugs were being procured from Netherlands through courier, and were being peddled in Hyderabad and other metros in the country.
On a tip-off, the city police intercepted a travel bus belonging to S V R Travels near Attapur, and seized a consignment of 367 Ecstasy pills, 62 blots of LSD and 50 grams of Amphetamine.
The total worth of the seized drugs is Rs. 8 lakh.
The police have also seized 2 laptops and cell phones. The bus used for smuggling the drugs has been confiscated, and the bus driver - Dharmaraj Deshmukh - has also been arrested.
A K Khan said that this was the first time that Ecstasy and LSD were seized in the city.
He said that the main accused Anthony was in contact with the supplier - Frank, of Netherlands - through e-mail, phone and other social networking websites, and placed orders through them.
A case under NDPS Act has been registered against the accused, and further investigations are on.
The Commissioner said that efforts were on to arrest Frank with the help of Interpol.
A K Khan said that there is a huge demand for Ecstasy and LSD in Hyderabad, and that nearly 50 such buyers have been identified.
Each Ecstasy pill is sold at the rate of Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 5,000.
It may be mentioned here that
2 Nigerians were arrested by the city police about 2 days ago, when they were trying to sell about 4 grams of cocaine near Sanjeeva Reddy Nagar.
In view of the increase in such cases, the City Police is now considering the formation of a separate Drugs Cell in the Detective Department of the Central Crime Station. (INN)