Engineering graduate held for peddling drugs

An engineering graduate who allegedly peddled contraband, including heroin and ketamine, in the suburbs of the city was nabbed by a team of the Central Crime Branch on Tuesday. His supplier was also arrested and contraband weighing 3 kg was seized from the duo.

Sources with the CCB said that prime suspect H. Swaminathan (24) of Ambattur, had completed a degree in ECE in 2013 from a college in Thiruninravur. Instead of hunting for a job, the youth said he was influenced by films to enter the drug trade.

“Swaminathan used to visit a two-wheeler mechanic shed at Veppampattu near his college and became friends with Raja alias

Thakkali Raja (42), a native of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, who later became his supplier. Raja and Swaminathan struck a deal and the former started supplying him with heroin and other drugs from mid-2013,” said a CCB officer.

The youth, who also sold Feng Shui fish from his residence in Ambattur, had been peddling the drugs without giving a clue about his dealings to his parents, who are both State government employees.

Following specific information on rampant drug sales, a team led by Deputy Commissioner S. Jeyakumar of the Anti Gangster Squad, laid a trap and lured Swaminathan to a location in Puzhal on Tuesday morning.