A gang of six people, including a police constable working with the Greyhounds unit in Warangal, were caught while in possession of 44 kilograms of marijuana by the Telangana State Anti-Narcotics Bureau and Langer Houz police.
Officials also seized four modified high-end SUVs with compartments to conceal contraband and ₹12 lakh of drug money from the gang.
Those caught peddling drugs will have their properties seized, said the police.
Hyderabad police commissioner C.V. Anand said that the accused were identified as Vankudoth Veeranna, 33, Ajmeera Veeranna, 21, Surneni Manoj, 20, Merugu Madhu, 39, police constable Prashanth Naik Tejavath, 27, and Mohd Jahangir, 40.
The prime accused, Vankudoth Veeranna, set up an organised drug network since 2018 and has even posed as a policeman/government official to get past the toll gates and checkposts during the COVID-19 lockdown period, said the Commissioner.
“He ran the network with about 25 men by investing in high-end cars and having them modified to have compartments to conceal the drugs. The vehicles would have police sirens and labels of ‘Police’ and ‘On Government Duty’ on them. The accused also had fake police and government ID cards on his name,” explained the official.
Vankudoth Veeranna is a relative of constable Prashanth Naik, who taught him the tricks used by the police in catching drug smugglers. “This knowledge was used to hoodwink the policemen at junctions. Moreover, he would always meet the peddlers at a place in Beed, Maharashtra, by taking a flight out of Hyderabad,” added the commissioner.
It was also revealed that he purchased multiple cars, properties in Gudur and Uppal, and had also invested in shares of companies with the drug money. Efforts are on to seize all of his properties, said the police.
Mr. Anand explained that a provision in the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act allows a Station House Officer (SHO) to seize the properties of drug peddlers.
“We will be implementing the provision and start seizing properties of those caught peddling/smuggling drugs into Telangana,” said the official.
