Drug racket busted at private university in Hyderabad; four held

Hyderabad, Aug 26 (PTI) The Elite Action Group for Drug Law Enforcement (EAGLE) on Tuesday said it has cracked down on a major interstate drug peddling racket that was supplying narcotics to students of a private university in Hyderabad.

Acting on credible information, a raid was conducted on August 25 at Jeedimetla here and the operation resulted in the arrest of four accused persons, including one student of the private university, and seizure of 1.15 kg ganja and 47 grams OG Weed, along with drug packaging material, a release from Telangana government's anti-narcotics wing--EAGLE said.

The probe further established that at least 50 students were regularly buying and using drugs from this network, and legal action will follow against all of them under the NDPS Act.

During the investigation of a previous drug case, it was revealed that drug parcels were booked through courier firms and parcels were delivered to two students of the university on at least three occasions, it said.

EAGLE teams then fanned out around the university campus and found out that one student who used to stay in the hostel, shifted to a house outside the campus and is selling drugs. The university authorities were alerted.

Based on the payments made through banking channels, the EAGLE teams identified that as many as 50 students might have been consuming drugs, the release said.

Investigations revealed that the accused had set up a well-structured supply chain connecting interstate suppliers, local peddler, and university students. Drugs were procured from Delhi and Bidar, smuggled into Hyderabad through courier and transport networks, and then pushed into the university through student distributors, it said.

Payments were made digitally, splitting transactions across multiple accounts, or routed through friends to evade detection.

The investigation also revealed the role of two students, (both BBA students at the private university), who acted as intermediaries for synthetic drugs. They established contact with a Nigerian national based in Delhi, who was supplying MDMA pills. These pills were then supplied to fellow students, adding a synthetic drug angle to the racket, the release added. PTI VVK VVK KH