Bengaluru police bust international drug ring

Bengaluru Police on Monday busted 11 notorious international and inter-state linked drug peddlers, who used to purchase synthetic narcotic drugs on the darknet, and seized 1,100 LSD strips, 980 MDMA (Ecstasy) tablets, 450 gm MD crystal (Meow), 25 gm of heroin (Brown Sugar), 500 ml weed oil and 48 kg marijuana (ganja) worth a total of Rs 90 lakh.

Police sources said that event organisers would supply synthetic drugs including stamps, pills and cocaine (Charlie) purchased through the dark web using bitcoin. These drug peddlers also sold the narcotics through Dunzo and Rapido bike delivery boys.

In one instance, a BCA student became a drug addict and then elevated himself to becoming a darknetsourced drug peddler. The arrested accused, Keval M. Lohith, who participated in night and rave parties in Bengaluru and Goa, started consuming the drugs. Later, to meet the expenditure of his drug consumption, he proceeded to becoming a drug peddler. He used his contacts with Nigerian and other African drug peddlers to purchase synthetic drugs, and then started to get synthetic drugs independently through the darknet using bitcoin. He also used his associates as delivery boys to supply the drugs to partygoing youths and college students.

In another case, Mohammed Hifzulla discontinued his B.Com graduation due to bad habits. Later, he joined as an office boy in the company, Matchless Promos, which is a product promotion company owned by Vaibhav Ali. The accused started his job of selling products for Rs 200 on the roadside and from there, he established his own event organising company named Fusion Entertainment Company and started organising events and parties. At these parties, Hifzulla and his associates started supplying drugs to participants and also to students near schools and colleges to gain more money to lead a luxurious life. He had contacts with African drug peddlers, from whom he used to purchase the substances.

Explaining the use of Rapido and Dunzo delivery boys for the drug supply, an officer said that Aziz Niyaz, an accused in the above case and a Rapido boy, and Guru Prasad, a Dunzo delivery boy, used to get Rs 40 per delivery. “When they came in contact with Keval Lohith and Hifzulla, they were offered Rs 500 per delivery of narcotic substances. Hence, these delivery boys joined hands with the drug peddlers,” said the officer.