Bengaluru: As many as 27 persons, including an Iranian national, were arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau in various states for smuggling and selling illegal drugs worth over Rs. 15 lakh.
Officials seized several drugs in connection with this, including LSD, cocaine, hashish, and psilocybin mushrooms.
The Bengaluru NCB reportedly carried out controlled delivery operations and was successful in arresting both the receiver and those in charge of the financing, transportation, and distribution of the drugs.
The NCB stated in a press release that a common modus operandi being used in all these cases is that the drugs were booked through darknet markets and in some closed Telegram and WhatsApp groups.
“The payments were made using cryptocurrency and other online payment channels. The arrested people belong to the age group of 20-25 years only and are mostly students and art/software professionals. Most of the arrested persons are well educated and belong to different cities like Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi etc., who are settled in Bangalore for the purpose of studying and working in reputed companies,” it added.
According to the press release, in one of the incidents, the drug supplier distributed the drug while operating out of Siliguri, West Bengal, via a regional courier service to various areas all across the country.
Apart from the Iranian national, the others held are from Bengaluru, Mumbai, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad, Mizoram, Haryana, Delhi, Kolkata, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
