Film financier, ex-Navy employee among three held in Hyd; drugs seized

Hyderabad: A film financier and a former Navy employee were among three persons apprehended here on Thursday and narcotic drugs were seized from them, police said.

On receipt of credible information, sleuths of Telangana State Anti-Narcotics Bureau (TSNAB) along with Gudimalkapur Police, apprehended the three persons and seized 2.8 grams cocaine, six blots LSD, 25 ecstasy pills weighing 11.5 grams and two packets of ganja (20 grams each), net cash of Rs 72,500, two cars, all worth Rs 32.89 lakh from their possession, a police official said. The first accused, an ex-Navy employee (he was declared medically unfit due to eye injury), who is now a businessman, and also a drug peddler, consumer and transporter, police said. The second accused, who is a financier to cine field (Telugu films), is also into organising drug parties while the third accused, working as a senior steno at Rail Nilayam here, is a drug consumer, police said.

According to police, the former navy employee, a native of Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, used to regularly come to Hyderabad to attend parties with his friends and in the process he came into contact with drugs peddlers in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. Later, he habituated to arrange drug parties to his friends and other known persons at Hyderabad and surrounding areas.

Gradually he established direct links/ contacts with Nigerians to procure drugs from Bengaluru and was also selling drugs to customers in Hyderabad and also to important persons in cine field and earning easy money, police said.

The second accused is a film financier (who financed movies like Damarukam, Kick, Businessman, Lovely, Auto Nagar Surya etc.,) is habituated to drugs and organises drug parties to his known friends, they said. He funds the first accused to procure drugs in bulk quantity to organise parties. He also arranged women in drug parties, police said.

On receipt of credible information, the first accused was apprehended in the limits of Gudimalkapur Police Station, along with 15 ecstasy pills, they said, adding subsequently police raided a flat in Madhapur where a party was going on and caught two more accused. In this case, four drug suppliers including three Nigerians and 18 consumers are at large, police said. Two women were also found in the place, who came there on the invitation of the film financier to get roles in movies, police added. Further investigation is on.