Drug trafficking through code word: 10 arrested

Bengaluru: The Amruthalli police have arrested a team led by persons based in Nigeria and Mangalore who were running drug trade through code word. The accused Hafeez Ramlan (28) from Mangalore, Umar Farooq (23) from Dakshina Kannada, KK Mansoor alias Manchu (33) from Kodagu, Benjamin alias Gerald from Nigeria, Hilary Egwaba (39) and Vaishali Das (29) from Mumbai, Triveni alias Jenny (25) from Ramamurthy Nagar was arrested.

As Glady Sunita (27), Sujana (27), R Murugesh (23), Mohammad Bilal (23) and Manish Chauhan (32) were arrested by the police while buying the drugs from the accused.

The main accused Hafeez and Benjamin used to bring drugs from Hyderabad and sell them to local peddlers to college students and private company employees. Police said that cocaine and MDMA ecstasy tablets worth Rs 1 lakh were seized from the arrested.

Both accused Farooq and Vaishali were in love with each other for many years. Farooq, who was active in the business, introduced her to Benjamin. A bank account was opened in the name of Vaishali so that the police should not get to know about the financial dealings of the drug trade. Her account number was given to those who bought drugs from the accused. After getting the drug, everyone used to send money to her account. In the same pattern, Triveni, a BBA graduate from Bangalore, is also acquainted with Benjamin, and he got her account number and gave it to Vaishali. Vaishali used to deposit the money from drug sales into Triveni's account. Benjamin was making money from Triveni. A senior police officer said that the bank accounts of both Vaishali and Triveni have been frozen.

The accused kept a code word named Aja to receive money for drug sales. A message was sent to the remitter in the same name. The officer said that he was using the same code word for the response as well.

Accused Hafeez Ramlan, who is a mobile technician, was active in drug trade for many years. Last May, he was arrested by Malakpet police in Hyderabad and sent to jail on charges of drug peddling. Even after getting bail, he was again active in the business. There are cases against him in Mangalore's Pandeshwar and Suratkal stations. There is a case against Benjamin in Sampigehalli police station and Hilary in Baiyappanahalli police station, police said.

A few days ago, Ramlan and Mansoor were caught while selling drugs near Lumbini Garden. An official said that the investigation of this case is going on and the team led by Inspector G Guru Prasad, PSI KB Sunil Kumar, have arrested five people and the entire team that was involved with the accused and Suzana, a woman running a beauty parlor who was a customer.