Cops bust international narcotics cartel in B’luru; 12 held

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: With the arrest of two persons, the North-East division police in the city claimed to have busted an international drug peddling racket which further led to the arrest of 10 more people including women and foreign nationals, in connection with the case.

While patrolling the ring road near Lumbini Garden, a team of police led by PSI Shivakumar Badnur intercepted two persons walking suspiciously on the service road recently. Following an inquiry, the police seized cocaine and ecstasy pills from the duo and arrested them.

Interrogating the accused led the cops to crack down upon their network illegally operating in the city supplying narcotics and drugs to students and IT professionals through an internet application. Based on information obtained from the duo, at least 10 people were arrested by the city police.

The accused who were allegedly selling drugs through an online application were identified by the police as Hillary Gwamba, 39, a Nigerian national; Vaishali Das, 29, from Mumbai; Hafiz Ramlan, 28; Mansoor, 33, from Bengaluru; Umar Farooq, 23, from Dakshina Kannada; Benjamin, 32, and Triveni, 25. Probing further, the police also arrested the persons who had purchased drugs from the peddlers. Mugesh, 23, from Indiranagar; Sunitha, 27 and Sujana, 27, from Ramamurthy Nagar; Mohammed Bilal, 23, from Jayanagar; Manish Chauhan, 32, from Sheshadripuram, were arrested and interrogated by the police.

According to sources, the police had detected several cases filed against the accused Hafeez Ramlan at Malakpet police station in Hyderabad, Pandeshwar and Surathkal police stations and in Mangaluru, under NDPS act.

Another accused Benjamin had a case against him at Sampigehalli police station while Hillary Gwamba had a similar case registered against him at Byappanahalli police station in the city.Speaking to News Trail, an officer from Amruthahalli police station said that during the investigation it was revealed that the peddlers used to communicate with each other using fancy usernames and code language to avoid coming under the police radar.

“Interception of mobile phone messages exchanged between the accused revealed that they had used certain codes for the drug items as well,” the officer said. The officer also said that the entire operation was conducted under the direction of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, North-East, Bengaluru, Dr Anoop Shetty. Drugs including cocaine and ecstasy pills worth Rs 1 lakh have been seized from the accused persons. Further investigation into the case is underway