In a major bust, the Rachakonda police arrested four alleged drug dealers on Monday, and seized a large quantity of narcotics from their possession.
The arrested were identified as Nigerian national Ajah Gabriel Ogbonna, Nooka Navyanth, an engineering drop-out, HR consultant with Karvy stock broking limited HR consultant-cum-DJ Ankith Pandey, and B Ghanath Kumar Reddy.
Another accused, identified as Madhapur resident Pavan Kumar, was absconding.
Addressing media persons, Rachakonda police commissioner Mohan Bhagwat, said, "On a tip-off, SOT sleuths apprehended Gabriel at Yapral. On questioning, he disclosed that he was having financial problems and that's why he indulged in drug trafficking by procuring the contraband from Goa, Mumbai, Delhi and supplying them at pubs through his known contacts."
The police said that they seized 0.5g of cocaine, 45g of MDMA, 60 blots of LSD, 0.65g hashish, 60g of ganja, and 450 amphetamine pills.
Meanwhile, officials also hinted at a connection between the latest bust and the sensational drug bust by the Telangana Prohibition and Excise Department last month.
According to reports, the police said that there were lots of similarities in the modus operandi of the two groups, and they even procured the drugs from the same sources.
Reports suggest that Navyanth was even a close aide of the kingpin of the earlier racket, Calvin Mascarenhas.
Navyanth had even placed orders on Alphabay, a darknet website, and would receive drugs to his address via courier, Telangana Today reported.
The police added that he also communicated with other dealers via WhatsApp.
The Deccan Chronicle reported that Navyanth was a student at an engineering college in Hyderabad, until he dropped out in 2015, and became a drug addict, dealing drugs to fuel his own addiction.
The DC report adds that Navyanth was associated with Calvin for a while, and even fled to Goa and stayed in a rented house in Anuja Beach after Calvin's arrest. He is reported to have continued his operations from there.
This comes less than a week after leading courier firm FedEx said that it has 'briefed' the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Telangana's Prohibition & Excise Department probing the drug racket busted in Hyderabad.
The SIT, in a release on July 19, had stated that three courier companies had been 'requested' to come and meet it with respect to the investigation.
Officials of DHL, Blue Dart and Fedex were asked to appear before the SIT in July, after it was learnt that most of the drugs came from abroad.
The sensational racket busted by authorities last month, found that about 1,000 students of leading private schools and colleges in the city were using high-end drugs such as LSD and MDMA. Some of them were as young as 13.
The officials said that Calvin Mascarenhas, said to be the kingpin of the racket, was placing orders on the Darknet, and the drugs were being delivered by couriers, including from overseas.
The racket also exposed the dark underbelly of Tollywood, as the dealers were also supplying drugs to several personalities from the Telugu industry.
IANS inputs