Illegal online drug trade due to students’ craze for hashish
New Delhi. Noida in Uttar Pradesh has the highest consumption of narcotics in North India, where drug smugglers make deliveries to educational institutions and companies with the help of fake e-commerce companies. Medicine packets are being delivered on demand to universities, corporate companies, educational institutions and even residents of posh areas in Greater Noida. Greater Noida Beta-2 Police recently busted a gang engaged in illegal trade of marijuana and charas making deliveries to educational institutions and companies under the guise of an e-commerce company.
On Tuesday, the police arrested Varsha, a BBA student, her cousin Chintu Thakur from Bulandshahr and Pintu and Kalu along with their associate Jaiprakash. Police seized 20 kg of ganja, 400 grams of charas and 41 packing items including 148 envelopes of Flipkart, polythene, electronic scales etc. from them. The gang used Flipkart envelopes to deliver medicines to universities and corporate companies. Envelopes used as an e-commerce platform app escaped suspicion.
To avoid the police and reach their customers easily, these gangs use envelopes from different companies, making the case less suspicious. Varsha, the female member of the arrested gang, lives in Migson Ultimo Society in Omicron 2 sector of Greater Noida and is originally from Bulandshahr.
No one doubted her because of her background, and she entered colleges, universities and companies under the pretext of education and employment. Flipkart’s packaging served as a convenient cover, as people rarely inspected the contents closely.
The main reasons for young persons and students joining these gangs are cigarettes and alcohol. Having developed an interest in these vices in a college environment with friends, limited funds from home lead students to view this illicit trade as an easy means to satisfy their addiction and other needs.
Initially they engage in this business to satisfy their addiction, but after seeing enough profits they gradually become integral members of such groups. Drug smugglers buy ganja from the North East at a price of Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 per kg and sell it at a price of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 2 lakh.
People bringing ganja from Odisha often buy it at low prices and distribute it at much higher prices at various places across NCR. In Greater Noida, a joint team of Narcotics Cell Gautam Buddha Nagar and Badalpur Police on Thursday arrested two accused involved in drug trafficking with two quintals of 48 kg of ganja and an Ashok Leyland Canter.
On Tuesday, four smugglers, including a woman, were arrested and 20 kg of ganja, 400 grams of charas, Flipkart envelopes and a motorcycle were seized. The Crime Branch of Ghaziabad Police on October 14 arrested a smuggler who was transporting ganja from Odisha to NCR in a big 18-wheeler truck. Police seized 300 kg of ganja, worth Rs 2.5 crore, from him.
