Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) officials on Tuesday busted an international drug racket and arrested four people from whom they recovered 750 MDMA tablets.
According to the zonal director Amit Ghawate, the accused sourced the drugs from Netherlands via the darknet, used an international courier agency for delivery, and paid through Bitcoins.
Based on specific information, a team led by Ghawate recovered the consignment from the Bengaluru Foreign Post Office, Chamarajpet. The parcel contained 750 MDMA tablets weighing 140 gm. “There was no address of the consignee on the parcel. The officials carried out a detailed investigation and managed to catch K. Pramod, Faheen, A. Hashir and S.S. Shetty,” said the NCB.
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The kingpin of the racket, Faheen, allegedly learnt to order online using the darknet and paid through cryptocurrency. He ensured that consignments were delivered to various post offices across India providing just the names of his associates. Later, his associates would collect the parcels from the post offices after submitting ID proof.
According to the NCB, the accused peddled drugs at Manipal University, NMAMIT college in Udupi district, SRM University in Chennai, clubs in Manipal and other places in Karnataka, in the last two years. The NCB officials have now taken the accused into custody to ascertain the extent of the drug network.