Crackdown on drugs: Bengaluru police seizes narcotics worth Rs 36.67 crore, arrest 16 including foreign nationals

Bengaluru: Home Minister G Parameshwara on Wednesday announced the seizure of drugs worth Rs 36.67 crore and the arrest of 16 suspects by the Bengaluru City police.

The arrested included four foreign nationals, eight persons from other states, and four local residents, indicating the interstate and international links of the drug network.

The seizures were done by officials from the Central Crime Branch (CCB), Bagalur, Adugodi, Chikkajala, HSR Layout, Yeshwantpur, Jalahalli, and Jnanabharathi Police Stations.

The seizure includes 9 kg 64 grams of MDMA, 5 kg 195 grams of Hydro Ganja, 19,755 LSD strips, 156 grams of Heroin, 618 grams of Charas, 332 grams of Cocaine, 315 grams of drug-infused Gummies, 11 kg 470 grams of Ganja.

"Acting on credible intelligence received on various dates, officers of the CCB Anti-Narcotics Wing along with police stations of the North East Division and North Divisions jurisdictional registered cases and conducted coordinated raids at identified locations across the city," the police said in a statement.

Preliminary interrogation of the suspects revealed that they were procuring narcotic substances at relatively low prices from foreign, interstate, and local sources and distributing them within Bengaluru, primarily targeting the general public, including college students, with the intention of making quick and illegal profits.

Cases have been registered under the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.

All 16 suspects have been produced before the courts on different dates and have been remanded to judicial custody. Further investigation is in progress to trace and identify the larger network of foreign, interstate, and local suppliers involved in the trafficking of narcotics, the police said.