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Hyderabad, October 9 (IANS) Telangana’s elite anti-drugs task force Eagle has seized 220 kg of ephedrine worth Rs 70 crore in the international market.
The Elite Action Group for Drug Law Enforcement (EAGLE) team busted an ephedrine manufacturing racket in a residential flat in Jeedimetla on the outskirts of Hyderabad and arrested four people.
According to Eagle, the main accused Shiv Ramakrishna Param Verma, from whose flat the substance was seized, is a former chemist and real estate entrepreneur from Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh.
Verma, who was previously arrested for drug offenses in 2017 and 2019, had approached PNM Life Sciences production manager Dangetti Anil with a proposal to produce ephedrine at the company’s facility in IDA Bolarum. Anil added company directors Venkata Krishna Rao and M. Prasad.
Verma supplied the key chemicals and provided Rs 8 lakh for additional raw materials. The group produced 220 kg of ephedrine and stored it in Verma’s flat.
The police arrested Verma, Anil, Krishna Rao and Mussini Dorababu, a production operator of Vignanasai Laboratories Pvt Ltd, who helped identify potential buyers.
PNM Life Science co-director M. Prasad is absconding. EAGLE has seized the manufacturing unit of the company.
In another operation, Eagle along with Cyberabad Police have seized cocaine worth Rs 7.5 lakh and arrested two smugglers near Manchirevula on the outskirts of Hyderabad.
Eagle personnel along with Narsingi police made the arrests when the accused were allegedly transporting drugs from Mumbai to Hyderabad.
The accused was supplying cocaine to consumers, mainly affluent classes and weekend party troupes, in the city.
Acting on a specific intelligence, a joint team of Eagle officers and Narsingi police laid a trap near Manchirevula in Ranga Reddy district and intercepted two suspects.
The team found 107.4 grams of cocaine from them and confiscated it along with two mobile phones. The total seizure is worth Rs 7.5 lakh.
The arrested have been identified as Siram Ananth Kumar (50) and Peruru Veerababu (32), both residents of Hyderabad.
Police were searching for the third accused, Kartikeya Shekar, who lives in Mumbai.
Police investigation revealed that Ananth Kumar was addicted to cocaine since 2017 and turned to smuggling to support his habit. He along with his associate Veerbabu was purchasing the medicine from Karthikeya Shekhar in Mumbai and selling it in Hyderabad.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Rajendranagar, Cyberabad, Yogesh Gautam said that a case has been registered under Section 8 (C) r/w 22 (C), 27 A and 29 of the NDPS Act at Narsinghi police station.
–IANS
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