Bengaluru: A drug syndicate involving four college students from Udupi was busted by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Bengaluru zone on Wednesday. NCB has seized 750 tablets of MDMA worth around Rs 10 lakh in the grey market.
Under the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, MDMA is a banned drug. The probe has revealed a huge network of students from well-known colleges in Udupi and Chennai, who are the prime customers of the four students Fahim, Pramodh K, A Hashir and SS Shetty. All four have been arrested under the NDPS Act.
“Contraband drugs have been ordered and paid for through cryptocurrency on the Darknet,” NCB, Bengaluru zonal director, Amit Ghawate was quoted as saying by EdexLive. The zonal director led the operation.
Providing the background of the seizure, Ghatwate said NCB had seized an India-bound parcel from The Netherlands on July 30.
“The parcel contained 750 MDMA tablets weighing around 142 gm. The address of the consignee was not mentioned on the parcel. Based on Intelligence inputs and detailed technical analysis the NCB team on September 24 arrested the consignee — Pramodh, mastermind Fahim and their associates — Hashir and Shetty — from Bengaluru,” he said. “The accused are students from Udupi,” Ghatwate added.
As per NCB, Fahim was an expert in purchasing narcotic drugs on the Darknet. “He had started purchasing cryptocurrency to buy the contraband drugs on the Darknet. Fahim has delivered illegal drugs to various locations in India. He has sold drugs to students from various colleges affiliated to Manipal University, NMAMIT College in Udupi, clubs in the district and SRM University in Chennai,” the zonal director said. “This drug syndicate has been active for the last two years and most of their customers are college students,” he added.
Hashir and Shetty hail from Karnataka while Fahim and Pramod are from Kerala.