Serving IAF officer, Bengaluru scientist arrested for running multi-state drug racket

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Wednesday arrested a serving Indian Air Force Wing Commander and a Bengaluru-based scientist in connection with its probe in an international drug racket involving a scientist and his wife. Wing Commander G Rajasekhara Reddy was apprehended near Nanded district in Maharashtra while he was trying to flee to Goa. Reddy, who was posted at Air Headquarters in Delhi, was the alleged “kingpin” of the racket and his purported involvement was revealed after the questioning of the duo in Hyderabad. [caption id=“attachment_2016269” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representative image. AFP[/caption] The officials had on Tuesday  seized 231 kg of amphetamine drug from research scientist Venkata Rama Rao as he was trying to collect a drug consignment in Hyderabad and later another 10 kg of the drug were recovered from the scientist’s residence. Following this, Rao, his wife and another aide Ravi Shankar Rao were arrested from Hyderabad on Tuesday. The drugs seized were worth about Rs 45 crore and is considered to be a potent nervous system stimulant. It is banned in India under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. Officials said Reddy was produced in a court in Hyderabad on Wednesday which sent him in NCB’s custody. Reddy’s name cropped up in NCB investigation after the scientist and his aides were questioned and Reddy was later nabbed based on the inputs provided by Rao. Some mobiles and Rs 7.5 lakh in cash were recovered from him. According to  The News Minute, Wing Commander Rajasekhara Reddy, posted with the Information Technology Wing of IAF in Delhi, has been a classmate of Venkat Rao and the duo resumed contact when Reddy was posted in Bengaluru for about five years till January 2016. Reddy was subsequently posted in Delhi and since then he would reportedly travel to Hyderabad to secure the contraband and trade it to other dealers. The report further said that the group had been cooking the drug out of a rented lab in Hyderabad and were reportedly looking for a permanent base. NCB first seized 221 kg of amphetamine from two persons at Miyapur area here on 30 September. Another report in  The Indian Express states that Reddy had been under the NCB scanner since several days and he absconded after the raids were conducted. The drug manufactured in Hyderabad was reportedly trafficked to places like Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. With inputs from PTI