8 drug peddlers, including 2 foreigners, held

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: At least eight persons who were allegedly involved in interstate drug peddling were arrested by the Anti-Narcotic Wing of Central Crime Branch (CCB) in the city. According to the police, narcotics worth Rs 6.31 cr were seized following their arrests.Sources from the police said that among the eight arrested, two are foreign nationals. While one of them is from Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) , the other a native of Costa Rica.

The other six arrested were identified as Anthony, Ramanna, Irfan, Basha, Mohammed Mujahid and Eliyaz. A special drive was conducted to check the menace of narcotics during New Year's Eve revelry. During the drive, police recovered narcotics including 2.5 kg of MDMA crystals, 350 ecstasy pills, 4 kg of hashish oil, 440 gram of charas and 7.1 kg of ganja.

The sources also said that the gang had taken a house on rent to store the cache of narcotics they had procured with an aim to sell it during the New Year celebrations and make a quick buck. It was later revealed that the gang had procured narcotics from Nigerian nationals in Goa, Delhi, and Hyderabad at a cheaper rate and were trying to peddle them in the city.

Following instructions by the Bengaluru Police Commissioner to check narcotics menace during New Year celebrations, the CCB sleuths conducted an investigation for over a month and conducted simultaneous raids recently to bust the ring. Further details are underway.