Contraband smuggled on train from Rajasthan, two held with 1.5kg opium

HYDERABAD: Two persons from Rajasthan were arrested by sleuths of the enforcement wing of prohibition and excise department at Malkajgiri on Sunday for being in possession of 56gm of heroin and 1.5kg of opium, worth ₹14 lakh.

Based on a tip-off, excise officials nabbed A Dasharath Gayeri and Ramesh Chand, both natives of Rajasthan, and a few tightly packed packets were seized from their possession. On investigation, the officials found that Dasharath and Ramesh had bought the contraband from a person near their village Malvda in Rajasthan.

The duo reached Hyderabad to meet an intermediary at Malkajgiri to put up the drugs for sale. "The market value of the banned substances is ₹14 lakh. The two, through some sources, were supposed to meet a person to sell the drug. In Rajasthan, the two had bought the drug for ₹5 lakh,'' assistant commissioner K Pavan Kumar said.

According to officials, they suspect there could be several intermediaries between the arrested culprits and the drug addicts.

In Rajasthan, growing opium is legal in some areas, but their sale is regulated. Excise officials suspect there could be pilferage from those regulated areas and opium landed in the hands of the duo. "We suspect the two accused previously came to Hyderabad. They reached Hyderabad by a train. They travelled in a general compartment since their ID proof will not be checked by railway authorities. In fact, the accused were not carrying ID cards too,'' officials said.

The accused might be taken into custody to know their sources through whom they developed local contacts to peddle the contraband. Since opium has a strong smell, the two made sure it was packed tightly.