Two foreigners allegedly selling cocaine to lead a lavish lifestyle were caught by the Osmania University police on Thursday.
Nine grams of cocaine, a fake passport and two credit cards were seized from the arrested, Patrick Emario and Rosita Miriam Thangavelu, hailing from Uganda and South Africa respectively. The kingpin in the drug racket, Roxy of Banaglore, is still at large, the East zone Additional DCP, M. Venkateshwar Rao, said at a press conference.
Patrick came to India seven years ago on student visa. In 2007, the Bollarum police arrested him on charge of selling cocaine. He was arrested again in 2010 and 2011 by the Hyderabad Central Crime Station and the Banjara Hills police in two more cases.
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After coming out from prison, he continued to procure narcotic substances from a drug racket operator, Roxy of Bangalore, and sell it to customers in city, Mr. Rao said. On learning that the police had kept surveillance on him, the accused approached Ms. Rosita to help him sell cocaine, offering her commission in the sale proceeds. They used to sell one gram of cocaine for Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 3,000. On a tip-off, the OU police caught them allegedly while trying to sell cocaine at Big Bazaar in Tarnaka.
Credit card fraud
In a separate case, two Nigerians who were allegedly making money by selling products which they purchased online using fraudulently obtained credit cards.
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The accused, Samuel Kings Hedion, 40, and his woman companion, Liatu Baraya Yelmi, 28, came to India four years ago. Ms. Liatu was pursuing degree course in mass communication at New Delhi. Samuel used to obtain details of credit cards of different customers online.
“Source of this information is yet to be identified,” the police said. He would make cloned credit cards using this data and use them to purchase electronic goods and other valuable articles from different shops. The couple would later sell the same for lesser price to needy persons and make money.