Special teams constituted to probe the ephedrine drug racket have been sent to Bengaluru, Chennai, Sattenapalli and Hyderabad, to identify the stranger, who reportedly booked the consignment to Australia.
The accused had reportedly booked the parcel to Australia, on the pretext of saris, from a private courier company, located at Bharatinagar, in Vijayawada, on January 31.
When the accused, who claimed himself as Kondaveeti Gopi Sai, of Sattenapalli in Guntur district, said that his Aadhaar card was in damaged condition, courier service boy, Guttula Teja, reportedly booked the parcel on his Aadhaar card as proof.
Officials of the Customs and Central Excise Department at Bengaluru Airport busted the racket and arrested Teja on April 30.
Police who reportedly questioned Gopi Sai, an engineering graduate, suspect that some other person might have booked the 4.5 kg ephedrine drug parcel to Australia, on Gopi Sai’s name.
“We suspect that the accused had used the name of Gopi Sai, who did his engineering in Chennai, to carry out the operation from Vijayawada,” a police officer said.
Investigation officers are collecting the details of the roommates, friends and others, who moved closely with the engineering students in Chennai, for the last four years.
NTR District Police Commissioner Kanthi Rana Tata said the racket had links to Chennai, and the special teams were probing the case in different angles. “We have some specific leads in the drug case. Investigation officers are trying to identify the main racketeer in the case,” the Commissioner said.
Meanwhile, the Customs and Central Excise officials are likely to visit the courier firm and visit Sattenapalli. They will question Gopi Sai in the case, the officials said.
