Drug Trafficking Networks Busted, 8 Peddlers Arrested

The city police's newly created Hyderabad Narcotic Enforcement Wing (H-NEW) today busted some drug trafficking networks which use the dark web to sell drugs.

The police arrested two inter-state drug peddlers and six local drugs peddlers, and 30 consumers as well.

The cops also seized 140 grams of charas, 1,450 grams of ganja, 184 LSD bolts, 10 grams of MDMA and seven cell phones from the accused.

Speaking to media persons, Hyderabad Commissioner of Police C V Anand said that the total value of the seized material was Rs 9 lakh.

Revealing the details of the arrested accused, he said that they included two kingpins of the dark web Narendra Arya alias Holy Shop, a native of Goa; and Farhan Mohammad Ansari alias Terminator, a native of Rajasthan. In addition, local drugs peddlers identified as Utkarsh Umang, Sahil Sharma, Abdullah Khan, Indra Kumar, Charan Kumar and P Bushan Raj were also arrested.

The CP said that the police had booked three cases against the accused, under the limits of the Humayun Nagar, Chaderghat and Jubilee Hills police stations.

Revealing the modus operaandi of the accused, the CP said that Narendra Arya was from Haryana and had settled in Goa a year back. He was doing online drug trafficking through the dark web with the help of social networks, crypto currency (single use crypto-wallet) and some hidden apps to courier narcotics to the homes of his customers.

The CP said that Arya had nearly 450 consumers across India, and that transactions worth nearly Rs. 30 lakh had been made in crypto currency throughout India for trafficking the drugs.

Talking about another kingpin of the dark web Farhan Mohammad Ansari, the CP said that he was a native of Madhya Pradesh who had settled in Rajasthan and was pursuing B. Tech. final year. Anand said that Ansari was doing online drug trafficking through the dark web for the last six months with the help of social networks, and that the payments used to be made through crypto currencies. He used courier and India Post services to deliver the drugs at home by neatly packing the boxes. Transactions worth nearly Rs 15 lakh were made in crypto currencies by Ansari for trafficking drugs throughout India, Anand said.